


Dragons and Knights

by Khorevis



Category: RWBY
Genre: Dragon Knight!Pyrrha, Dragon Knights AU, F/F, F/M, Half Dragon!Jaune
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-03-29 12:57:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 23,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13927581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khorevis/pseuds/Khorevis
Summary: Pyrrha Nikos expected Dragons to be magnificent, massive creatures with scales and fangs and horns. She surely didn't expect them to be winged, blond boys with blue eyes found in the middle of the forest.Not that she complained.





	1. Beacon

**Author's Note:**

> In my world, Huntsmen are instead Dragon Knights. They still have Aura and Semblances, but they partner up with Dragons during the initiation.  
> Dragons are exctint. Half Dragons (whom have the ability to shapeshift into a Dragon) are now used as Dragons. I will use a language I've invented from scratch for Dragontongue. Ask and I'll translate.  
> Dragons don't have "Semblances", but they have powers based on their minerals (each Dragon has two minerals in their name). Dragons characters wil still have their Semblances, though. It will just be called Draconic Power. Nothing different.

In front of her, Beacon Academy stood in all its magnificence. Its central -and sadly only- tower, the Cross Continental Trade Tower, stood tall and proud, towering over all the other building, sporting a total height of more than two hundreds yards. The courtyard was immense, housing several gardens and even a tree-lined avenue that lead to a huge building that was likely to be the atrium, especially so since it proudly wore the insignia of Beacon, the Crossed Axes. The airport was large and it could house several Bullheads at the same time, although at the time only one of said airships was boarded at Beacon's docking port. The school itself was nothing short of awe-inspiring. Although the large buildings surely detracted from the overall appearance of the complex, their practicality was overshadowed by the beauty and the dimension of the courtyard, that contained several squares surrounded by pillars, a giant fountain where it was _supposed_ to be forbidden to swim in -and it was common knowledge that that rule was promptly ignored by many students- and, to her great interest, the famous Avenue of Heroes.

The Avenue of Heroes began with a single statue of two Knights triumphing over a cowering Beowolf. One of the two Knights had his sword raised in a sign of victory, while the other seemed to be leaning on her axe, although more out of amusement than out of tiredness. Many statues followed, almost one for each man or woman in the history of Remnant who had done a great service to the kingdoms, and she remembered quite a few of them by memory. Fourth from the start on the left there was  Wise Video, who as the name suggested was the inventor of the first video camera, although the poor man died during an experiment, where his own camera exploded and killed the genial inventor. Eleventh on the left there was Gray Colt, the one who had been able to grant to women the same rights as men, and she was also the inventress of the Colt gun, whose model had long been considered obsolete but that had had a huge impact on the battles with Grimm of her times. Thirty-fifth on the right there was Richard Fiercespirit, a Faunus who fought for the rights of Faunus all his life before being murdered in an ambush. The true perpetrators had never been found, although many suspected the Schnee family for it.

P yrrha Nikos, graduated at top of her class back at Sanctum, four times winner of the Mistral tournament and celebrity known all over Mistral and even in the other kingdoms, had made it to Beacon. The  initial tests had been easy for her, and she had no problem passing the screening, thanks to her great skill and combat prowess.  The meeting with Headmaster Ozpin went smoothly, too, as the man only asked her a few questions about herself before nodding, welcoming her into Beacon and leaving. A month and nine days later, Pyrrha was on the airship that would have brought her to Beacon.

The school's name was, actually, Academy for Advanced Training  of Knights and their Dragons of Beacon, but it was always shortcut into Beacon Academy or even just Beacon. Pyrrha remembered reading several stories about the creation of Beacon. It was said to be the most open minded of the schools, while Haven had the best strategists, Atlas had the best fighters and Shade had the stealthiest ones. All in all, every school had its student model,  although many preferred rich people either Atlas or Beacon, disregarding Shade as a school of scoundrels -and they weren't completely wrong- and Haven as a school of daydreamers. The Schnee family was the worst of them all, and all the Schnee children had to attend Atlas Academy to become Knights, although that career was deeply disliked by the Schnees  due its barbarity.

According to the legend, Beacon's builder had never intended it to become a school. The complex was built in a highly strategic position, and it was accessible almost only by airship, because of the surrounding forests one for each season: the Emerald Forest for Spring, the Snow Taiga for Winter, the Tropical Jungle for Summer and the Forever Fall Woods for Autumn.  All of them were filled with the dreaded creatures of Grimm. The school had originally been built as a fortress and a castle, and for many years it stood proud and invincible over Vale, discouraging any attack. Only after Atlas, Shade and Haven were built, the four strongholds lost much of their meaning, since every kingdom had its personal castle, and were turned into schools to train Dragon Knights, mankind's main defence against the Grimm. The schools now provided both Dragons and training, although no one knew how the assignment of Dragons worked, since every school kept it a secret.

Stepping out of the large Bullhead,  Pyrrha immediately noticed the lack of a guide, and so she guessed that the students had to reach the atrium on their own. Not that it was difficult: it was right in front of them. Only a blind could miss it, and even a blind would find it difficult because of the stream of students heading toward the large building. However, before she could enter the  atrium, a cry of "Look, a Knight!" made her turn and watch in awe as a large pink-coloured Dragon landed in the courtyard, and its rider dismounted with practised ease.

The Knight wore a green vest with white trousers that seemed to offer great mobility. He was slightly shorter than Pyrrha herself, but he was still taller than the average.  He had shoulder-length black hair with a single pink lock,  and pale pink eyes. He nodded toward the students before turning and patting the Dragon on the shoulder, probably praising it for the good job. On the Knight's vest back there was the drawing of a large green lotus that was likely to be the Knight's symbol. The Dragon lowered its head to the ground so that the Knight could pet it and began to growl softly, in a clear imitation of a cat's purr. Its scales were bright pink, the membranes of the wings just slightly paler than the rest, with large aquamarine eyes that were looking at its Knight as if he was the entire world.

The Knight continued to pet his Dragon for a couple of minutes, but then the questions of the students became too much for him to bear any more and he mounted back on, nodding in farewell and setting off toward the gardens, where he could land again, far from prying eyes. As he disappeared from sight, Pyrrha resumed to breath, not even noticing she had stopped.  _'A Dragon Knight!'_ , she thought, ecstatic.  _'I will have my own Dragon. It looked so powerful!'_ .

Once inside the atrium, she tried to pass unobserved in the large crowd, with little to no success thanks to her flaming red hair and her distinctive armour and weapons. Fortunately, she had to reply to just six questions of "Are you  _the_ Pyrrha Nikos?" before an elderly man walked on the stage before them. The man had uncared silvering hair and sharp brown eyes hidden by a pair of silvering glasses that made impossible to see his eyes. After glancing at the crowd, the man cleared his throat.

«Welcome to the Academy for Advanced Training of Knights and Dragons of Beacon. Or, as we professors say, welcome to Beacon». He chuckled ever so lightly. «You came here to become Dragon Knights. A few of you already have their Dragons, but as I can see the large majority doesn't».

«Tomorrow, during your initiation, you will be assigned your partners. Remember that Dragons will be loyal to you only if you will be loyal to them, but they are usually friendly, so don't worry if they are wary of you at first». His gaze swept over the students. «Those Dragons will help you become Knights, although there  _had_ been cases of Knights without Dragons before. Your partners will help you become stronger. Because this is what you're here for, right?».

«You came here to become Knights. Be it for glory, for power, for sense of justice or for personal choice, you're all here to become the next generation of the Defenders of Mankind».  He paused for a second.  « You seek the knowledge to become Knights, but this knowledge can only take you so far. It's up to you to make the first step or, like Dragons say, the first flight ».

He stepped aside and walked away without as much as another glance to the students. A tall, blond e woman  with a stern expression took his place at the microphone.  « You will gather in the ballroom for tonight. Your initiation begins tomorrow. Be ready ».  Like her appearance, her voice was severe.  Dismissed, the students filed out of the room, not without several whispers.

Pyrrha, ignoring the many stares that followed her even that far away from Mistral, stored her weapons and armour in the locker she was assigned  and then made a beeline for her bedroll. In complete silence she got under her blankets and tried to sleep. Only "tried" because several other students wanted to ask her about her tournaments and all her other achievements. After a good quarter of hour, she managed to send the priers away with the -true- excuse she needed to sleep.

#####

The morning after, while she retrieved her equipment from her locker, she was approached by a white-haired girl she was almost sure was a Schnee. The girl retrieved her own weapon, a short rapier with a revolving  barrel containing several charges of Dust of various colours, before turning to Pyrrha.

«So, Pyrrha, have you decided which team do you want to be in?», she asked, a not-so-subtly-hidden vein of arrogance in her voice, looking up at her.

«Actually, I was thinking of just letting the pieces fall where they may», she replied, carefully choosing her words like every time she was near someone.

«Well», she said, her intention clear.  «I was thinking we could be in a team together».

«That would be grand»,  replied Pyrrha, although she hoped not to end up with the Schnee. Whatever the pairing system was, hopefully it wasn't bribable by the Schnees, or she would end up in a  _very_ bad situation with that girl.

«Perfect!», she cheered, her enthusiasm just as fake as Pyrrha's.  «My name is Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. You must have heard of it. After all, you owe my father's company the Dust to make your very weapons».

« Actually, I don't »,  she countered politely.  « Back in Mistral, I chose a...  local company to get the Dust ».

« Oh, but that's so unfortunate! »,  shot back Weiss.  « Don't worry. If we are on the same team, I'll make sure to have Father send you new weapons. The Schnee's Dust is the best, after all, and you - _Pyrrha Nikos herself_ \- should only have the best of the best ».

« Thank you »,  she said.  « But I'm fine with my current weapons ».

« Oh, nonsense! »,  retorted Weiss, determined.  « Since we will be on the same team, you can't use second-quality Dust for your weapons. We will trash them as soon as the new ones arrive ».

Irritation spiked in Pyrrha. Not even Weiss Schnee could talk like that of Miló and Akoúo.  « Pardon me, but my weapons performed perfectly since the start »,  she replied, stiffly.  « Besides, I am familiar with my current equipment. Getting used to new weapons could be tiresome and a hindrance to my studies ».

« Of course »,  nodded the other girl.  « That's why I would ask Father to send me exact copies of your weapons, but forged with better and higher-quality Dust. Schnee Dust ».

« Pardon me again »,  continued Pyrrha.  « But I don't think I need your Dust. As I said, I'm fine with the one I currently use ».

« As I said, nonsense »,  retorted Weiss.  « As soon as I will be team leader, I will get you new weapons. On the Schnee name, and that's no small promise ».

_'Then I really hope not to end up in your team'_ , mumbled Pyrrha in her mind. The blonde woman from the welcoming speech spared her of the need of an answer by calling all the students to the Beacon cliffs for the initiation. Closing her locker, she rushed out,  narrowly avoiding to be stuck in another conversation with the Schnee.

#####

«For years, you have trained to become warriors», said Ozpin, facing away from the chasm behind him.  « Today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest ».

« Now, I'm sure many of you heard rumours about the assignment of teams »,  continued Professor Goodwitch, the blonde teacher whose expression seemed to have only two outputs: severe, and pissed.  « Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today ».

« These teammates will be with you for the rest of your times here at Beacon »,  resumed Ozpin.  « So it's in your best interest to be paired with someone you can work well ».

« That being said, the first Dragon you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years »,  Ozpin dropped the bombshell. Many whispers passed among the  « We gathered a large number of Dragons of your age in the Emerald Forest. Some of them are from the Forever Fall Woods, some of them from the Snow Taiga, some of them from the Tropical Jungle and some are native of this forest ».

« Luckily you won't need another Dragon! »,  chirped a small girl with a pink cape, speaking to the tall, dark-haired boy at her side. With slight surprise, Pyrrha noted that the boy was the Dragon Knight she had seen the day before. The girl beside him was dressed in a white-and-pink outfit, and seemed to be very attached to him, since she didn't stop talking one second. She had orange-haired eyes and her eyes were of a strangely familiar aquamarine, but she couldn't place them in her mind.

«After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die»,  he warned with a serious tone.  « You will be monitored and valued for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene ».

« You will find an abandoned temple, at the end of the path, containing several relics. Each pair must choose  _one_ and return to the top of the cliff. We'll regard that item, as well as your standing, to grade you appropriately ».  He paused for a second.  « Are there any question? ».

Nobody had questions.

The metallic pads on which they were standing sprung into life, hurling the students up in the air and into the Emerald Forest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nora (because of course Nora is a Dragon!) is an Aquamarine Pink Quartz Half Dragon. Her Draconic Power will still be Lighting Absorbtion.


	2. The Initiation

Pyrrha found herself free-falling before she could even realize what was happening. Half a second before, she was sure to be on the solid ground, looking a smugly smiling Ozpin. Half a second later, she found herself at least a hundred yards up in the air, looking at the approaching trees. For a brief instant, she wondered why the Headmaster was smirking. Surely throwing students into a Grimm-infested forest filled with creatures that could tear them to pieces couldn't be so funny.

Using her shield to protect herself from the impact, she crashed into a couple of trees before rolling and bolting upright on a branch, switching Miló into its rifle mode to have a look around.  She quickly spotted the green-clad Knight, who was holding on for dear life to his talkative companion who, to Pyrrha's bewilderment, was freely flying down gently, thanks to her great pink wings.  _'A Dragon'_ , she thought.  _'There's no doubt about it... I guess'_ .

Shaking her head to clear it from thoughts of strange girls with wings and calm boys who were Knights already, she jumped down from the tree she was on and began to walk North, toward the temple.  The thick undergrowth hindered her advance heavily, forcing her to stop time and again to check her direction, and eventually getting her lost in the vast forest with no idea of where was she going.  The branches covered in leaves didn't help, either, as she couldn't even see the sky from her position, and she didn't feel like climbing on a tree just to see the weather.

With a heavy sigh, she resumed cutting through the vegetation, fervently hoping not to be going in the wrong direction. The last thing she needed was to end up in Snow Taiga without the slightest idea of why did she end up there.  In the distance, she faintly heard the sound of gunshots and the roars of Beowolves.  _'It seems our comrades have encountered the enemy'_ , she thought. Idly, she wondered how was Weiss doing, and it was with surprise that she realized she didn't really care. Of course, she wasn't wishing the Schnee to die, but she frankly didn't care where was she or what was she doing.

F or minutes, she just slashed her way through the woods, her mood slowly dampening until she found herself scowling at the think undergrowth, hating it for being so hindering and so in her path. It had been quite a while since the last time Pyrrha Nikos had scowled to someone or something. She usually preferred to frown in order to express her dislike, but now the bushes and low branches had surely earned her scowl. Her Aura kept her from being scratched by the thousands thorns and pointy twigs along the way, but it couldn't keep her mood in the same intact condition. In that moment, she found out that the explorer wasn't the right job for her: wading through hostile terrains with no one to keep her company wasn't what she wanted from her life.

Then her train of thoughts was interrupted by a sound ahead of her.

Listening carefully, she faintly made out the sound of... a flute? Yes, there was definitely a flute in the middle of the forest, far away from any human or Faunus settlement, in woods so filled with Grimm to be almost black, and that had  _happened_ to be on her path. Sighing in relief, she resumed walking, trying to reach the source of the sound as soon as possible.  _'It must be another student. Unusual weapons exist, after all, and a flute could be used as a small staff'_ , she thought, hacking and slashing at the bushes with Miló, keeping Akoúo as a protection against the whiplash from low branches, as she continued toward the sound, that was meanwhile getting clearer and clearer, sign that she was getting nearer. Finally, she reached a small clearing, finding the source of the sound.

And she froze.

Standing upright in the middle of the clearing there was a tall boy with golden hair playing the silvering flute he was holding in his hands, his eyes closed as if focusing on the instrument. A short one-handed sword hung from his hip in its scabbard,  and he also wore a very light armour, consisting of a chestplate and armguards. On his back, two great golden wings were currently folded, but she could swear that fully stretched they would be more than three yards wide. He wore pale blue jeans and boots, a black hoodie, two belts instead of one and fingerless leather gloves.

When she stopped, the boy lazily opened an eye and peeked at her,  slowly opening the other eye to fully stare at her. He had sky blue eyes that reminded her, for some reason, of two twin  sparkling sapphires, sparking with... was that amusement? Yes, it was amusement. Frowning, she took another step toward him -and he didn't move in the slightest, continuing to play his instrument-, but Ozpin's words hit her like a train in full run.

"Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die".

Without another thought, she switched Miló into rifle mode and fired a shot at whatever was in front of her. Whatever it was, it wasn't a student nor a Dragon, since it hadn't tried to speak to her. The boy's eyes widened as he jumped aside and stared at her, dumbstruck. The confused expression on his face made her hesitate a second time, giving him enough time to turn and run in the woods, abandoning his flute behind. Unfolding his wings and using them to lift himself off the ground just enough to grab a branch and pull himself up, he sent her one last frowning glance before jumping off in the forest. Frowning back, she walked over to the flute and picked it up. It was a very good flute, and it would be a waste to leave it there, so she took it with her and resumed her walk in the woods, unaware of the keen  blue eyes that were following her from above.

#####

Five minutes later, she found herself running headlong through the woods, no more caring about branches or bushes, chased by a very big Grimm scorpion, a monster called Death Stalker for a reason. The creature was three yards tall and at least seven yards wide, plus he was more than ten yards long and with a very dangerous large stinger.  _'And it's always said that for scorpions, the bigger, the better'_ , she thought bitterly, referring to the old saying of desert travellers: the poison of a scorpion was inversely proportional to its dimension, and so the bigger the scorpion was, the weaker its poison was. Unfortunately, the rule didn't apply to the creatures of Grimm, since the poison of a Death Stalker was definitely very dangerous.  Its toxin attacked the nervous system, destroying the nerves in indescribable agony before finally killing the victim. Fortunately, the main victims of Death Stalkers were Knights, and their Auras protected them from any injury.

Unfortunately, Pyrrha's Aura was gradually being depleted by the intense effort.

Pyrrha hated running for her life. While the adrenalin of combat was a good thing, she always thought it wasn't worth dying for.  The fact she had found herself running for dear life far more than once didn't help her with her dislike for it. Of course, her intense training had her able to run fast and for a long time, as well as running in several hostile terrains, but she had never been able to stand the long runs since she was seven. No amount of training or persuasion had her change her mind. However, there were times in her life where Pyrrha was the first to admit that running was the right thing to do, and that it could save your life. For example, right that moment, where she was followed by a rampaging Death Stalker that had every intention to turn her into its next meal.

She was completely unaware of the young boy cursing, hissing and running just a dozen yards away, but he had chosen the aerial way and so she couldn't see him.

Behind her, the Death Stalker roared its anger, knocking off several trees but giving her a tiny moment to gain a bit of distance from the monster. Ahead of her,  she could faintly make out the end of the forest. She only had to hope she had been running in the right direction all along. As she exited from the woods in full running mode, the Grimm fast on her heels, she found herself in a large clearing. In front of her there were some kind of ruins, and behind those she could see a huge complex of an abandoned temple. However, the temple wasn't the first thing to attract her attention, but the people already in the clearing.

S he froze in surprise.

Looking a bit tired and a bit exasperated there was the green Knight with his pink-winged companion,  now without her cape , who was currently scaring everyone else with her seemingly endless energy and cheerful personality. Only the green Knight could calm her down.  Beside the two there were a tall blonde girl  with great yellow wings who looked like she could punch down a Dragon without many problems. She had a long, wild mane of yellow hair and lilac eyes. For some reason, when she saw Pyrrha, she cried out in exasperation and briefly burst into flames, only to be calmed down by another girl. Said girl was the shortest of the group, with dark red hair and silver eyes. Over her  dark red wings she wore a bright red cape. The remaining two were Weiss Schnee, who was regarding with a mix of dislike and confusion the small crimsonette, and a black-haired girl with amber eyes who wore a bow on the top of her head.

B ehind her, the Death Stalker made itself known again by knocking her down with a powerful blow by one of its huge pincers.

She scrambled back on her feet and rushed to the others, trying to get separated from the Grimm, or that someone else could help her, at least. The six present students and companions didn't seem to notice as she was hit by another pincer in the back -without any regret from the Grimm: those creatures didn't care if backstabbing was  considered  vile- that sent her several meters forwards. This time, she got up and faced the Grimm, raising her shield just in time to parry another pincer crash. With Miló occupied with the Death Stalker's left pincer and Akoúo busy with the right one, she could only watch in horror as the monster brought its stinger down and struck her in the collarbone, just above her right breast.

Unfortunately, the long run and the two powerful blows had depleted too much of her Aura.

As the stinger sank ever so slightly in her skin and injected the lethal poison, she realized why Knights were always supposed to be in teams or at least duos. No Knight was invincible, no matter what their titles were.  _'Invincible Girl'_ , she thought bitterly.  _'Look at me now'_ . A pincer hit later, she was sent crashing on the ground in front of the others. Ironically, only then they noticed that they had just left the redhead to fight a Death Stalker on her own, and the blonde winged girl huffed.

« The gang's all here! »,  she cheered sarcastically, bending to check on Pyrrha.  « Now we can die together! »,  she added as she saw a Giant Nevermore approaching the clearing with the obvious intent of killing them all.

« Not if I can help it! »,  stated the small winged crimsonette, setting off toward the Death Stalker at crazy speed and unfolding her weapon into an oversized scythe  only to strike harmlessly the armoured pincer and be pushed back.

« Ruby! »,  called out the blonde, momentarily forgetting Pyrrha to look at the smaller girl with a worried expression. As the Nevermore hurled its sharp feathers and nailed her cape to the ground, preventing her from retreating from the approaching Death Stalker, the blonde got even more worried.  « Ruby, get out of there! ».

« I'm trying! »,  replied the redhead,  pulling the cloak and successfully ripping it off the feather. With a small frown at the rip on the cloth, the girl called Ruby turned and rushed back to the others right as the stinger struck the ground where she was standing just a second before with such a force to get stuck in the earth.  « How's she? ».

R eassured, the blonde turned toward Pyrrha and checked her wound, her eyes widening in horror as she realized the nature of the injury.  « R-Really, really b-bad, sis »,  she stammered, looking down at her fallen comrade.  « H-Hold on, y-you. Blake, call the Professors! She... she's got a stinger wound! ».

« The Headmaster said the Professors won't intervene,  a nd that we  _could_ die out here »,  replied Blake, frowning as she complied.  When no one responded, she sighed .  « I'm sorry. They're not replying to my calls ».

« _Elnah'kharaor wikan khimaara!_ »,  hissed an unknown voice. Everyone raised their eyes from Pyrrha, who was starting to feel the damage to her nerves, and looked at the source of the voice. Running toward them there was a tall, blond, winged boy with worried blue eyes. Skidding to a halt, he knelt down beside Pyrrha, who turned to face him with a pained expression.  « Hello again ».


	3. Meeting the Others

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been asked on FanFiction.net to use "" instead of the arrows for dialogues. I won't change the arrows in the previous chapters, since now I haven't got enough internet connection to update them. Sorry if this is messed up.

Vienn Mekian  Videnlekiah , whose human name was Jaune Arc, was having a good day.

He had been told everything about Beacon's initiation  and the need for him to wander in the Emerald Forest until he was called back home or found by a student. His parents had been extremely specific with their instructions: if it  wa s a Grimm run, if it  wa s a Dragonblood greet them and walk away nonchalantly, if it  wa s a student stay there and let them make the first move.

If they attack ed you, turn tail and run for cover, and then follow them.

Until the moment in which a tall, red haired girl walked into the clearing in which he was playing his flute, he was so having a good day. The weather had been pretty okay all the morning, with only the faintest hint of clouds in the early morning,  and the air was pleasantly refreshing. The flute had been a gift from his older sister Yeken Tyin'nan  Nawdebhyek , whose human name was Cla i re Arc, and he had been practising with it for over four months now. He had gotten really good. When his day was ruined by the arrival of a student, he was in the middle of playing the flute part of the song  _"Al Xorek oak al Vlakhaakh"_ .

It was quite a sad song that narrated the last battle of the draconic hero known only as Khor Vlakha Aakhani k an, whose desperate army endured a long siege in the now destroyed Vienn'hiin Naroak -later renamed the Stronghold of the Dragon- before finally succumbing and being slaughtered by the human's army commanded by Commander Jeveas Schnee the Icehearted. Khor Vlakha -whose full draconic name was Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh, as it was discovered after his death- managed to escape and reunite with Iiroden Evik Khoiva k raikhan -otherwise known as Iiroden Vlakha Aakhani k an-, another hero of the Dragons and Khor's partner in love and war. Together, the two of them protected the citadel of Vlakha Horak for two more years before being defeated and captured, the city destroyed and their armies slaughtered. As a final act of loyalty to the Dragon lineage, the two had committed ritual suicide before the Icehearted could order them hanged like common criminals.

Jaune loved that song. He found it sad, of course, but he couldn't look away from the fact that not just the two Aakhani k anakh, but every single Dragon fought until death for their kin. It gave him a feeling of kinship toward the Dragons that was stronger than any affinity he could ever manage to feel toward the other Dragonbloods.  Unlike Dragons were during the last years of their civilizations, Dragonbloods were separated like the humans, or the Faunus. Each family was on its own, disregarding almost all the others. The Arc Lineage had befriended the Xiao Long Lineage during the years, and Jaune had often met Iiroden Evis Veanveen, whose human name was Ruby Rose, and Na'an Liyik Veosveyosan, whose human name was Yang Xiao Long. He was almost an older brother to the young Ruby, although he often lamented -jokingly- that he already had enough sisters at home and he didn't need any more girls among his siblings. Yang, instead, was always shifting between an older and a younger sibling. Her hotheadedness made her act even more childish than Ruby, but she also knew when to stop... apart from her  _horrible_ puns and jokes. She never knew when to stop  those .

So, he was having a definitely good day when he noticed the young redhead entering the clearing with sword and shield ready. Looking at her, he waited for her to make the first move, just like his parents told him. When she turned her sword into a rifle and shot him, missing him by the breadth of a hair, he decided to make himself scarce. Shooting her a confused look, he ran into the woods, lifting himself with his strong golden wings to grab a branch and hoist himself up. Sending her another confused glance, he stepped back in the foliage, disappearing from sight. However, he did not let her out of his sight. The redhead wasn't going after him, and that was a good thing, but she picked up the flute and left, walking away in the woods.

With a heavy sigh, he went after her, following what Ozpin told him do to if partnered with a student.

#####

There where times where Jaune hated his life.

And he had happened to stumble in one of those rare days where his luck seemed to have been completely depleted. After having to run from branch to branch, chased after by a Death freaking Stalker, trying to keep up with his supposed partner, he was fairly sure to have having a bad day. When he finally lost sight of the tall redhead and was eventually surpassed by the Grimm, his opinion turned even worse. However, nothing could rival the moment in which he reached the clearing, only to see his partner on the ground, a tall, blonde Dragonblood bent over her.

In that moment, his day turned definitely shitty.

" _Elnah'kharaor wikan khimaara!_ ", he shouted at the Dragonblood, who raised her eyes just in time to jump back. Without another word, he skidded to a halt and knelt beside the girl who was supposed to be his partner for the next four years. The redhead looked at him with a pained grimace and greeted him with a weak "Hello again".

_'How can she joke about this?'_ , thought Jaune, checking the wound. She had obvious rib damage from what had probably been a pincer blow from the Grimm, but the worst was the deep injury right on her chest from the stinger. Since it had pierced the skin and the flesh, he guessed the girl had depleted all her Aura. And that meant she was now suffering from the poison.

Suppressing a huff of relief at seeing he had arrived in the nick of time, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, completely unaware of the other six teens gathered in the clearing. Focusing on his inner energy and calling forth the right over power he had as Half Dragon, he bent over her and pressed his mouth over the wound, gently blowing Life into the student's weakened body. His power flowed from him to the redhead, leaving him exhausted from merely one use.

He never heard the cry of "Weiss, NO!".

Just as he began to retreat, an excruciating pain shot through his shoulder, making him scream in agony as the cold steel pierced skin, flesh and bone, exiting on the other side. White exploded before his eyes, blinding him as the steel retreated from his body and left him to grab his injured shoulder.

#####

" _Elnah'kharaor wikan khimaara!_ " ,  hissed an unknown voice. Everyone raised their eyes from Pyrrha, who was starting to feel the damage to her nerves, and looked at the source of the voice. Running toward them there was a tall, blond, winged boy with worried blue eyes. Skidding to a halt, he knelt down beside Pyrrha, who turned to face him with a pained expression.  " Hello again" .

T he boy bent over her and checked her injury, his sapphire eyes narrowing in concern as he looked at the stinger wound. Weiss stepped forwards with an angry expression, but Ruby grabbed her arm and shook her head. "He won't hurt her", she reassured the white haired girl. "He's a friend".

"Prove it", spat back Weiss, freeing her arm from the crimsonette's grasp and pushing her back. "I don't trust any of you. My future partner is injured and that...  _that_ is doing who knows what to her".

"Look for yourself", shrugged Ruby, pointing to Pyrrha. The boy had leaned over and was pressing his lips over the stinger wound, his eyes closed and his left hand keeping her down. Pyrrha was glowing white and her eyes were wide in surprise as new energy and Aura flowed through her, fighting off the poison and closing the wound.

Unfortunately, Weiss didn't see it that way.

With a gasp of horror, the Schnee lunged forwards, unheeding of Ruby's cry of "Weiss, NO!", and plunged Myrtenaster straight through the boy's shoulder.  _'He's got no Aura'_ , she noted.  _'Dragons have Aura. So he's not a Dragon, after all'_ . It was with no small satisfaction that she watched him scream for the searing pain from both the rapier injury and the small discharge of Fire Dust she had applied to the attack, releasing Pyrrha immediately.

As he stumbled back, falling on the ground and clutching his injured shoulder, Weiss knelt beside Pyrrha, pushing her down with her right hand, a reassuring expression on her face.  " Don't worry, Pyrrha, we will take care of- ".

S he was interrupted by a mighty punch from the blonde winged girl, who sent her flying on the other side of the fallen redhead. At the same time, the Ruby ran over to the blonde boy, kneeling beside him with a worried expression on her face.  " Jaune, are you okay? ",  she asked, her eyes wide at the sight of the blood.  " Come on, I'll bring you home. Don't worry, Jaune, I got you, don't worry. I got you ".

A s she continued to ramble, she picked him up and began running away, toward the forest, leaving everyone but the blonde girl dumbstruck. She, instead, stomped over to Weiss and growled menacingly.  " Why for the great volcano did you do that!? ".

" He was sucking her blood! ",  retorted the Schnee, scrambling on her feet.  " And besides, it's not proper etiquette to touch a girl's breast without her permission ".

" He was healing her! ",  snapped the blonde, taking a menacing step toward her.  " And you attacked him! ".

" Yang, stop! ",  ordered the dark haired girl called Blake.  " She couldn't have known! ".

" She could've trusted Ruby! ",  retorted Yang, growling at her partner.  " She supposed he was a threat only because he's not human! ".

" That's not even  _remotely_ true! ",  argued Weiss. Then, under a flaming glare from Yang, she corrected herself.  " Not  _entirely_ true ".

" I swear, if Jaune dies because of your racism, you die too ",  she growled at the Schnee before turning and marching over to Pyrrha, helping her on her feet. Around twenty yards away, the Death Stalker roared, its stinger still stuck in the ground, angered by its condition of powerlessness. Yang pulled Pyrrha on her feet and checked her wounds, snorting in satisfaction as she saw that she was completely fine.  " Good, so now we have to wait until Ruby and Jaune come back. Don't worry, his sister Soleil has a very similar Power to his own. He'll be fine and back in a few minutes. Nobody runs faster than Ruby ".

" W-What happened? ",  asked the redhead, confused.  " Who's Jaune? I kinda spaced out for a second... the Death Stalker! The poison... ".  She trailed off as she saw the unharmed skin where the wound had been.  " I'm uninjured... ".

" Jaune's a Half Dragon ",  explained Yang, patiently.  " He used his Draconic Power to transfer his energy from his body to yours ".

" Who screamed? ",  asked again Pyrrha, faintly recalling a scream of pain. Had she screamed while she was out cold?  " Did I...? ".

" No, it was Jaune ",  replied Yang, scowling at Weiss.  " The Schnee thought he was sucking your blood and attacked him. He'll be fine. Maybe he'll hold a grudge, but not for long. He's too good for his own good to do that ".

" J-Jaune? W-Was he the Half Dragon? ",  asked Pyrrha.  " The blond one? With blue eyes? ".

" Also golden wings ",  nodded Yang.  " It's him ".

" Why did he help me? ",  continued Pyrrha.  " I mean... I shot him! ".

" Mmh ",  she hummed thoughtfully.  " It seems he forgave you. He growled at us to make us step aside and then healed you, so I guess you're his partner, right? ".

Confused, the redhead could only nod.  Looking around, she saw that everyone but Ruby was present. Weiss was scowling at Yang, keeping her distance, and the other three seemed slightly worried. Blake still had her Scroll in her hand. The green-clad Knight was still staring where Ruby had disappeared in a flash of rose petals. The pink-winged girl was playing with a large chess White Rook.

O f course, Ruby chose that moment to rush back in the clearing, panting from the exertion, carrying a slightly terrified-looking Jaune. The two stopped right in front of Pyrrha, and Jaune disentangled himself from Ruby, stepping closer to the tall redhead to check on her again. When he saw she was fine, he nodded in satisfaction and held out a hand for her to shake.

" _Vienn Mekian Naamen_ ",  he introduced himself. Ruby glanced at him with a strangely compassionate look before translating.  " His name's Jaune Arc ".

" Pyrrha Nikos ",  she replied, firmly taking his hand with a small smile. When he didn't seem to respond to her name, her smile widened. Unfortunately, she didn't consider Weiss Schnee.

The white haired girl stomped over and looked at Jaune with a contemptuous expression.  " Excuse me, do you have any idea who are you talking to? ".

J aune blinked.  " Uh...  _Vok_ ? ".  Ruby didn't need to translate orally and just nodded.

" She's  _Pyrrha Nikos_ ",  continued Weiss.  " She graduated top of her class back in Sanctum ".

Jaune glanced at Ruby, who shrugged.  " Uh...  _Val zeo?_ ".  Ruby snickered before composing herself.  " He said: and so? ".

" And so?! ",  repeated Weiss, irritated.  " She won the Mistral Tournament, four times in a row! A new record! ".

" Ehm...  _Vok, lakoonaok vi wikan. Val?_ ".  Ruby stifled a second snigger and smirked at Weiss, clearly enjoying the exchange.  " He said: yes, I saw her.  And? ".

" And?! ".  Weiss seemed on the brink of an apoplectic shock.  " She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete Marshmallow Flakes Box! ".

" _Vok, val zeo?_ ".  At this, Ruby burst into laughters and Yang took over with a sly smirk.  " He said: yes, and so? ".

Weiss now looked ready to pounce and tear them all to pieces. It was Pyrrha who prevented a mass murder by smiling at Jaune and placing a calming hand on Weiss's arm.  " Don't worry, Weiss. He was being the kindest person I've ever met ",  she said.  " After all, he  _did_ healed me ".

" I could've done the same with some of the Dust I always carry with me, and with a call to the Vale Hospital. They have a section always ready for me. Father made sure of it when I left for Beacon ",  replied Weiss, arrogantly.  " Plus, my method had the proper level of decency, something this  _nobody_ seems to be lacking altogether ".

Jaune tried to speak, but Yang stopped him and shook her head.  " It's not worth it. She's a brat ".

P yrrha frowned. Then a memory surfaced from the back of her mind, a memory picturing Jaune apparently kissing the wound on her chest and glowing white. Her eyes went wide and she blushed. Despite all her training, she wasn't used to those things. Still, she continued to defend him.  " Maybe, but I was dying, and now I'm not. I guess it was worth any...  _lack of decency_ ".

W eiss huffed and turned to Jaune.  " You still aren't worth to even speak to her. Remember this. Keep your stupid thoughts for yourself. No one listens to a nobody like you ",  she hissed at him. For some reason, she disliked him even more than she disliked Ruby.  " And keep away from Pyrrha. You don't deserve her ".

" _Hiena wik al xiimel_ ",  countered Jaune, scowling back at her.  " _Hiena wik na lemiix_ ".

Yang smirked.  " He said: she's a person, she's not a goddess ".  She winked.  " And I guess he cut the part of "What have I done to deserve this brat?" from the rest to avoid impoliteness ".

" How dare you!? ",  screeched Weiss, but a severe glare from Yang shut her up. Chin thrust up, she turned and marched away, the incarnation of the offended. Ruby and Yang smirked and followed suit. Pyrrha turned to Jaune and smiled.

"Thank you", she said, beaming.  " It's good to know that at least someone can speak to me as to a person ".

He shrugged.  " _Hiena wer iineak_ ", he replied. Since she had studied Dragontongue for a short period of time, she understood the meaning: you're welcome.

"Do you speak my language?", she asked, curiously.

He sighed and shook his head. " _Na. Yiewwlaok vi. Urookwa vi na_ ".

This time, Pyrrha didn't understand. "W-What?", she asked, frowning.

He sighed again and fished out his Scroll from his pocket. Typing for a while, he came up with an online translator from Dragontongue to the human language, and he showed her his translated answer.

_No. I've tried. I can't._

Her frown deepened. "But... you understand me, right?". He nodded. "Then why can't you speak. I mean, I don't want to offend you...". He raised a hand to stop her.

_It's always been like this, don't worry. You'll have Ruby and Topaz to translate._

"Who's Topaz?", frowned Pyrrha. His shoulders slumped and he pointed to Yang. "Oh. I guess her draconic name isn't like her human one. What does your name mean?".

He smiled sadly.

_Gold Sapphire Greatsoul_ .


	4. Something's Amiss

The eight teens -both students and Dragons- took their chess pieces without many problems from the Death Stalker. Unfortunately, the Grimm freed itself just as they began to run away, immediately chasing after them with a most enraged roar. High above them, the Giant Nevermore had a similar idea, surpassing them launching his feathers again, missing them of mere inches. Trapped between the two giant Grimm, three of the Half Dragons decided to grab their partners and fly away. Yang shouted at Nora to pick up Pyrrha too, while she herself grabbed Jaune along with Blake.

" He can't fly! ",  she explained as she lifted the three of them with some difficulty.  " Never could! ".

" A Dragon that can't fly!? ",  mocked Weiss.  " What else? Don't tell me, he can't fight, right!? ".

" No! ",  replied Yang, not picking up the sarcasm.  " But if we fly for a little bit, the Death Stalker will lose us! It's worth a shot! ".

And then she set off carrying with her a very blank-faced Blake and a very disheartened Jaune. Immediately after her went Ruby, who was having some difficulty carrying her grumpy luggage named Weiss-Schnee-Heiress-of-the-Schnee-Dust-Company. Or at least, that was how she introduced herself. Behind her came Nora, with a huge smirk on her face, carrying both Ren and Pyrrha. The former had a very level expression, sign he was used to that. The latter was frowning in concern for Jaune.  _'He can't speak our language, he can't fly, he can't fight... maybe it's not safe for him to be in an Academy like Beacon. Why did Ozpin let him in the Emerald Forest?'_ , she thought, confused.  _'Was it because of his power?'_ .

" Let me get this straight ",  continued Weiss, evidently not relenting.  " That dolt can't fight, and he's  _Pyrrha's_ partner?! ".

" Schnee, one more word about Jaune, and I'll rip your tongue off! ",  shouted back Yang, enraged.  " And you have to hope you don't end  up in the same team as me! ".

" Or else what?! ".

" You'll find out! ".

" Don't menace me! ".

" I menace everyone! ".

" How dare you! ".

Silence.

" Was that a question!? ".

" No! ".

" You suck at expressing yourself, Ice Queen ".

" It's Weiss Schnee! ".

" That's what I said! ".

" You stupid lizard! ".

" Hey, she's my sister! ",  cut in Ruby.

"Oh no, not you too!".

Pyrrha zoned them out.

Instead she focused on Jaune, who was looking more and more depressed every second that passed. Blake didn't seem to care particularly and was looking back at the Grimms, that apparently had found new targets and had left them alone. The blond boy just let Yang carry him, his gaze lost in the distance.  _'A Dragon unable to fly is strange'_ , thought Pyrrha.  _'Maybe his wings were damaged somehow?'_ .

"You insufferable little brat, get your hands off me!".

"You mean I have to let you fall!?".

"No! I mean touch me as little as possible! You're dirty!".

"Sorry, not used to princesses!".

"It's Heiress, actually! Weiss Schnee, Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, the largest Dust producer in Remnant!".

"Oh, finally some recognition!".

"The same company suspected of Faunus exploit and  _questionable_ business partners!".

"How dare you!".

#####

"Cardin Winchester, Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the Black Bishop pieces", said Ozpin to the four young men in front of him.  " From this day forwards, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by Cardin Winchester ".

The four walked away, and four new teens walked on the stage.

" Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos and Lie Ren. The four of you retrieved the White Rook pieces ",  said the Headmaster, probably used to the boring ceremony.  " From this day forwards, you will work together as Team JNPR, led by Jaune Arc " .

"Uh?". Jaune raised his gaze and looked at him, confused.  " _Biiroowaoak yyen...?_ ".

" Congratulations, young man ",  smirked the Professor in his personal way of cheering.

Pyrrha's  way of  cheering was  instead  a jab on the shoulder that threw  him off-balance and sent him on the ground. Many snickered. Jaune barely registered it. His mind was still trying -unsuccessfully- to guess  _why_ had Ozpin made  _him_ the leader. Even the hyperactive Nora would have been a better leader!

The four walked away, and the last students took their places.

" And finally. Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the White Knight pieces ".  A very sharp  ear would've been able to detect that the Headmaster was actually glad the  tiresome  ceremony was ending.  " From this day forwards, you will work together as Team RWBY, led by Ruby Rose ".

Yang's cheering was a spine-breaking hug. Fortunately, the blonde let her newly appointed leader go before she could break her wings' bones, that were really fragile.

" It seems this is shaping into an interesting year ",  commented Ozpin, but no one heard him.

A s they exited the room, fifteen minutes later, Weiss stopped Jaune -earning a harsh glance from Yang- and cleared her throat.  " Jaune Arc, I think I need to apologize for my behaviour back in the forest ",  she said formally. Then, noticing how cold she sounded, she sighed and tried again.  " I mean, I'm sorry for attacking you like that. I though you  still  had Aura... and I did not consider the  case you had depleted it all before reaching us ".

J aune blinked. Twice.  " _Xal'okh...?_ ".

" And then I acted irresponsibly and harshly when I heard of your... lack of proper training. I'm sorry for everything I said, because now I realize that it's not your fault. I mean,  _others_ are the ones whom have to train us, so it's  _their_ fault. And... I overreacted when I heard you couldn't speak nor fly... I guess this is really terrible for you to endure and I acted insensibly ".  She drew a deep breath.  " I let my temper take over and I said things I shouldn't have. So now I want to make it up to you and I want to give you a counsel ".

J aune tilted his head sideways.

" Leave the school. It's too dangerous for  a Dragon with  no training  nor the ability to fly ",  she said, earning another flaming glare from Yang.  " I'm sure Professor Ozpin will understand. To make up for my unjustifiable attack, I will write to my father and the best of Atlas's scientists will try and help you with your problems ".

W ith a satisfied smile, and thinking to have solved the problem, she turned and continued down the corridor, leaving everyone in a stunned silence.

#####

" Ruby, Yang, may I have a word? ",  asked Pyrrha, stopping them before they could enter their dorm. Jaune, Ren and Nora were already asleep.  " It's... it's about Jaune ".

" Of course ",  immediately nodded Yang.  " What's your problem with him? ".

" It's not  _my_ problem ",  specified Pyrrha, nervously.  " It's just... why? I mean, every other Dragon in the Academy knows how to fight, how to speak our language and surely how to fly. What happened to him? ".

Yang softened ever so slightly.  " You're worried, huh? Welcome in the group. You're not the first. His parents, his seven sisters, our father and our uncle, Ruby and I are all worried about him ".  She sighed.  " He 's always been like this. No matter how hard we trained him, he couldn't learn. Oh, he can handle a couple of Beowolves, sure, but... he's blocked. He can't learn more. For theoretical studies is the same.  What Weiss said is true, is not ready for Beacon but... he's been told he wasn't ready all his life. We don't know what's wrong ".

" How could you not know? Something's amiss, this is obvious ",  countered Pyrrha with a frown.  " Did you research? Maybe on the net or in some books you can find the answer ".

Y ang smiled sadly.  " You're too naive for your own good, Pyrrha. We are Half Dragons. We can't access libraries or any source of mass knowledge about humans whatsoever. We are in a similar condition to the Faunuses ".  She sighed.  " But after all, what do you expect for  oversized war horse s? ".

" Dragons're not animals ",  frowned Pyrrha.

" Neither are Faunuses ",  countered Yang.  " But they're still treated so. But let's not get carried away. My answer to your question is clear. Yes, we know Jaune has a problem. No, we don't know how to help him. All what we can do is to protect him from harm ".

" It's impossible to  be unable to fly for a Half Dragon ",  argued the redhead.  " Why nobody  trained  him? ".

" Trained ?  How? ",  asked Ruby, finally taking part of the conversation.

" I don't, I'm not a Dragon ",  she replied, exasperated.  " How did your parents teach you how to fly? I don't know, you could've trained him somehow ".

" Teach? Our parents didn't teach us how to fly ",  stated Ruby, perplexed.  " We just learned by ourselves ".

" Are you telling me Jaune doesn't know how to fly, speak or fight because he's an idiot who can't get anything right? ",  asked Pyrrha, irritated.  " Are you saying it's his fault? ".

" No it isn't ",  retorted Ruby.  " He... when he was born, he was a runt. Everybody thought he wouldn't have survived the winter, but he did. I guess this...  _weakness_ of his is the price he had to pay for his life. Do you think we haven't tried to teach him, over and over again? ".

" No, I'm sorry. I got carried away ",  mumbled Pyrrha, ashamed.  " It's just... I'm worried for him "

T he two sisters shrugged in unison and bid her goodnight before retiring to their room. Pyrrha remained standing in the corridor, alone and cold, for a long time before finally going to bed. And still, she had difficulty falling asleep.

#####

The morning after Team JNPR woke up at the terrible noise coming from the room of Team RWBY. It sounded as if a herd of stampeding Goliath had invaded the school and was now charging up the stairs. The four members of Pyrrha's team woke up with varying responses to the noise, from Nora's ever present energy to Jaune's bewilderment that four teens could cause such a ruckus to Ren's quiet resignation to her  own mild annoyance.

Their room was very large. They had a two bathrooms -the minimum for four people- and a small kitchen. Four large desks had been prepared, each with its own chair, and there were four small wardrobes already containing a few uniforms.  The kitchen was already well stocked with foods and, surprisingly, snacks. Getting up with a sigh, Jaune scrambled out of his ridiculous but warm blue onesie and into his daywear. Then he headed to the kitchen, beginning to prepare breakfast for everyone.

" Will you always prepare breakfast? ",  asked Ren, clearly interested.

" Jonak taeenlakh ",  he replied light-heartedly. Nora smirked.  " _Niekhyaok vi uuliyinaa'ky_ ".

" He said he has seven sister and than he learned quickly to make breakfast ".

J aune paused for a second and his shoulders slumped.  " Hyeeka vi ",  he apologized with a contrite expression.

" You don't have to apologize, Jaune ",  replied Ren, getting up to help him with the preparations.  " Pyrrha and I are not apologizing for not speaking Dragontongue ".

" I'm sorry ",  immediately cut in Pyrrha.  " I will try and study it. I never thought I would need it ".

R en deadpanned at her before turning back to Jaune.  " As I said, don't worry. At least you aren't a small hyperactive bundle of energy like Nora " . He gave him a small smile.  " You will soon realize how it is to live with Nora ".

J aune perked up a little.  " Werakh hiena elywekan? ".

" No, we're not together... together ",  hurried to reply Nora with a nervous laugh.  " Hehe... ".

B oth Jaune and Pyrrha gave her a flat look that screamed "you're not fooling me", but they didn't pass comments. Twenty minutes later, breakfast was served. Nora ignored the fruit and the cereals, instead opting for the huge pile of pancakes Ren placed in front of her. A smaller pile was his own breakfast, and he began to eat with practised ease. Jaune chose for a couple of oranges and a glass of juice, while Pyrrha opted for a large red apple, as well as orange juice -with bits, not from concentrate- like Jaune.

When the noise finally subsided and their ears slowly readapted to the silence, the four of them had just finished washing the dishes and they were unpacking their things. Unfortunately, Weiss's voice loudly reminded them that they had neighbours. When they appeared on the threshold of their dorm, they barely saw Weiss storming off before Ruby ran after her, shouting "To class!".

For a second, Team JNPR didn't say anything.

" Wkioon? ",  repeated Jaune, confused. The sound seemed to break the spell and Team JNPR crashed to the ground. Crawling out of the pile of human and draconic bodies first, Jaune got up and ran after Team RWBY.  " Hienaill viakh hienakha niyiluuan! ",  he exclaimed as his teammates followed him.

#####

" Jaune, are you okay? ",  Pyrrha asked him during Dust Laboratory. In front of them a bowl full of Lighting Dust laid abandoned.

He shrugged as he took a small vial of iron powder and emptied it in the bowl.

" You don't look... okay ",  she continued, shielding her face from the small electric explosion that Jaune had involuntarily caused.  " Is it because we can't understand what are you saying? ".

H e stiffened for a second, and then slumped, nodding.

" Jaune, it's not your fault, you can't let this get you ",  said Pyrrha, placing a hand on his arm and getting a small shock from the static electricity.  " As I said, we will work on it. Don't worry, I will learn your language so we can speak directly in Dragontongue ".

" Oh yeah, so nobody will be able to understand us! ",  cheered Nora from beside them. Ren facepalmed.  " Nora, every team has two Dragontongue speakers, at least. They're called Half Dragons ".

" Team JNPR, please, pay attention to what you're doing, if you don't want to repeat that explosion ",  the  p rofessor scolded them.

O f course, Nora immediately mixed all the types of Dust she had at her disposal, just to cause a second explosion. Ren ducked under the table, while Pyrrha pushed Jaune off his seat and shielded him with her body. Not everyone else was so lucky. Weiss received the brunt of it, and she ended up of a lovely shade of ash grey and a slightly less lovely murderous expression. The professor dismissed the class -not before assigning Nora a ten thousands words essay about Dust as punishment- and they were free to go.

Pyrrha was still looking worriedly at Jaune.


	5. Auraless

Jaune was panting hard, glaring at his adversary. Cardin Winchester looked no less than rested, his mace casually swung over his shoulder and a sneer on his face. Cursing under his breath, Jaune charged again, ignoring the bruises from all the kicks he had received from Cardin.  He had already lost his sword and was depending on his shield, but even with that he couldn't afford to parry the heavy mace unless he wanted a broken arm. Unfortunately, he couldn't even draw his claws like every other Half Dragon, because it was something he was unable to do like flying or speaking the human language.  Or like his lack of combat skill.

He didn't have his Aura unlocked.

He knew perfectly well why he was the weakest Dragon in the entire Academy. He knew perfectly well why his human teammates had to rely on Nora every time he spoke. He knew perfectly well why his wings couldn't bear flying, but just gliding. He knew perfectly well why he couldn't shapeshift into the draconic form every Dragonblood had. It was all because of his God damned lack of Aura. Not that he hadn't tried to unlock it, he had. Others had tried, but they too were unsuccessful. His Aura was simply unreachable. And that pissed him off several times per day.

He forced his thoughts back to the ongoing fight.

Cardin was waiting for him to attack, that much was obvious. His Aura was still full -ironically, Jaune's was, too, because the device couldn't detect any damage in his Aura and treated it as full- and he looked very calm, almost relaxed. As Jaune charged him again, he chuckled malignly before stepping aside and bringing his mace down on his arm. His shield resisted the heavy blow, but unfortunately his arm didn't, the bone snapping with a sickening sound.

With a single cry of pain, he fell on his knees, clutching his left arm. He raised his gaze just in time to receive a kick from Cardin's armoured boot square in the face. The hit knocked him out cold and he fell on the ground, unmoving, earning several gasps from the students. Pyrrha in particular rushed on the stage, sighing in semi-relief when she realized he was still alive. After all, a hit like that could've killed him outright. Professor Goodwitch arrived on the stage with her usually severe face now bearing a worried expression.

" Miss Nikos, could you bring Mr Arc to the infirmary? ",  she asked the redhead as soon as she too checked Jaune's condition.  " He will be fine, but he needs medical care. Mr Winchester, remain here. We need to have a talk about your detention ".  To the end of the sentence, her voice had turned back to her usual severity.

" Yes, Professor ",  he replied, bored.  " But why are you all so worried? I mean, he's alive, right? It's not my fault if he's such a weakling ".

A s Pyrrha exited the room carrying Jaune, helped by Nora, she heard Yang's voice reply:  " Professor Goodwitch, may I have a match with Cardin? ".

# ####

" There we were, in the middle of the night ".

" It was day ".

" We were  _surrounded_ by Ursai ".

" They were Beowolves ".

" Dozens of them! ".

" Two of them ".

" But they were no match... ".

" ...and in the end, Ren and I... ".

"... opened our own shop selling Ursa skin rugs! ".

" They were Beowolves, so Beowolf skin rugs ".

" Doesn't matter ".

" Forgive her, she's been having this recurrent dream for nearly a month now ",  apologized Ren.  " Every morning she tells me of it. That's how I knew how it ended ".

" Oh, no problem, I love listening to dreams ",  shrugged Yang. Beside her, Weiss was painting her nails and Blake was reading a book, and both gave her a look as if to say "we  _do_ have a problem, but we're too polite to speak up".

" Jaune, are you alright? ",  Pyrrha asked Jaune, on the other end of the table.

" Huh? ",  he looked up from his plate and stopped picking at his mushrooms.  " _Vok. Khojer?_ ".

Pyrrha slipped him her Scroll, a translator already selected and an apologetic expression on her face.  " Sorry, I don't  really speak Dragontongue yet, and I don't want to force Ruby to translate every time ".

H e nodded and sighed.

_Yes. Why?_

" Well, you don't look  _okay_ ",  commented Ruby, who had already understood his first answer, but didn't want to leave Pyrrha in the dark.

_Guys, I am fine._

He was still typing when he heard a cry of pain coming from another table. He turned and narrowed his eyes. Team CRDL had stopped a rabbit Faunus, and Cardin was pulling the poor girl's right ear, chuckling malignly. When she asked him to stop, he just chuckled harder.

" I told you it was real ",  he said to his teammates.

" What a freak ",  stated Russel, laughing at her. Then Cardin released her and she walked away, wiping a tear of pain off her cheek.

" Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first day of school ",  noted Pyrrha.

He shook his head.  _No, he just... likes to mess around_ .

" He's a bully ",  growled Ruby.

He scoffed.  _Oh, please. Name one time he bullied me_ .

" Apart from badmouthing you, beating the hell out of you every time he can, shoving you in the rocket  lockers and sending you in one of the four seasonal forests around Beacon, knocking books off your hands every time you're carrying some, activating Crocea Mors's shield every time you pass through a door to get you stuck, stealing your Scroll and locking you in the bathroom? ",  listed Ruby, sarcastic.  " No, then. Then, he's a real angel ".

" Jaune, if you need something, you just have to ask ",  remarked Pyrrha.

He typed some more, threw the Scroll on the table and stood up.  _Guys, I am fine. Besides, he is not just a jerk to me. He is a jerk to everyone_ .

With that, he left.

#####

" Headmaster Ozpin, I'd like a word, if you may ".

" Of course, Miss Nikos ",  nodded the old man with a slight smile.  " Let me guess: Jaune? ".

" Yes ",  replied Pyrrha.  " But you're the one I need answers from ".

" There must be questions in order for me to give answers ",  noted the professor.  " Ask ".

" I've done some research in the past weeks, in the library, but I still couldn't find how to solve Jaune's problem. I mean, there's written that Dragons' Auras are unlocked by emotions, but there's nothing else than that ",  she said, frowning.  " So my question is: what should I do? Jaune will be killed soon if I can't unlock his Aura. And why? I'm sure you know about his... condition. Then why did you let into Beacon? You know he's risking his life, don't you? ".

" Yes, I know indeed. Mr Arc's case is indeed particular, but not unheard of. There had been cases of Auraless Dragonbloods. Unfortunately, most of them had been...  _culled_ ... by the Council. They don't think highly of non-humans... ".  He sighed.  " Are you asking me to send him back home and get you another partner, Miss Nikos? It's completely understandable if you... ".

" No, I don't want another partner! I want to know how can I help Jaune ",  replied Pyrrha, cutting him off in a rare show of impoliteness.  " He's not been improving in the last weeks. He... he has a problem. Yang said he was born a runt and he's still paying the price, but I can't believe this is stopping him like this ".

" You're seeing this in the wrong way, Miss Nikos ",  noted Ozpin.  " You're asking me which way to choose, while you should be creating your own ways by yourself. You should be discovering how to help him on your own... if you can help him. There are cases in which even the strongest of us are powerless ".

" Well, this is not one of those cases ",  countered Pyrrha.  " I'll be in the library ".  She turned and walked away.

Taking a long sip from his mug of coffee, Ozpin turned the corner and raised an eyebrow.  " Mr Arc, I suppose you heard the whole conversation ".

J aune nodded, straightening up. With a curt nod, he followed Pyrrha, curious about how was she going to try and help him. As if his family hadn't tried already... Shaking his head to clear it from those pessimistic thoughts, he walked off at a brisk pace to catch up with Pyrrha, not noticing the pensive look on Ozpin's face. The man watched him go before reaching back and grazing the stumps of his severed wings under the clothes.

Oh, he surely knew what it meant to be helpless.

#####

_'A Dragonblood can unlock his Aura in only one way, through emotions. Any type of emotions works. Concentration, sadness, happiness, anger, even confusion. Usually, the Dragonblood doesn't realize the change until he calms down'_ , recited Pyrrha as she headed  to one of the many rooftops of Beacon, carrying a large book from the library, to read in peace .  _'Dragonbloods' version of Semblances are their Draconic Powers. Usually, those powers are related to their minerals'_ .

_'A Half Dragon, as well as a Dragon, is associated to two minerals. Those minerals' names form the Half Dragon's name. Many minerals are precious gems or metals, but any kind of mineral works. A Half Dragon's minerals do not influence his personality'_ , she continued as she opened the door and stepped out in the fresh air.  _'Jaune's minerals are gold and sapphire. Gold's powers are related to life and healing, sapphire's are related to innocence and balance. Jaune's third name, Videnlekiah, means Great Soul. I could mean he has a lot of Aura, too. I just need to unlock it'_ .

_'To unlock a Dragonblood's Aura, said Dragonblood must experience intense emotions. The more Aura he has, the stronger those emotions needs to be. It has never been recorded of cases in which draconic Auras have been unlocked by an outsider. Contrary to humans and Faunus, the percentage of draconic blood in their veins doesn't let their Auras be unlocked with the Ritual'_ . She sat down and opened her book, continuing to read.  _'On a theoretical level, if a Dragonblood's draconic blood is extracted and removed from his body entirely, then the Ritual is able to unlock his Aura. Unfortunately, this method had never been tested, as the loss of such an amount of blood would be fatal to the Dragonblood'_ .

_'Without Aura, Half Dragons are extremely weak. They are unable to be trained as fighters, not even by the best trainer of the world. Their wings lack of the necessary strength for flying, and only if backed up by Aura they can fly like Dragons. For some reason, the lack of Aura also prevents them from speaking the human language, although they can read and understand it like everyone else'_ . She flipped the pages absent-mindedly, searching for a page she hadn't read already.  _'Lack of Aura also prevents them from shapeshifting into their full Dragon form, as the process needs Aura to recombine their atoms. For the same reason, Half Dragons can't draw out their claws without Aura backup. Much of this relation with Aura of Half Dragons is still a mystery for mankind, and it's suspected that even the Half Dragons themselves don't know the answers'_ .

Behind her, the door opened.  " _Theen_ ".

" Hey, Jaune ",  she greeted him, standing up and smiling.  " Do you want to accompany me to the dorms? It's getting quite late ".

" Huh? ".  Fortunately, unarticulated sounds were identical in all languages. He pointed to the book.  " _Xal'ekh haook hiena?_ "

" It's a book about Half Dragons ",  said Pyrrha, smiling.  _'Don't tell him. It has to be a surprise'_ .  "So, are we going?".

He frowned at her for a bit longer, but then he shrugged and nodded with a small smile.


	6. Research and Attempt

Pyrrha waited for her teammates to fall asleep before quietly dressing up and exiting the dorm, completely unaware of the sapphire orbs that were following her in the darkness. Without a sound, she crept back in the library, determined to find out as much as she could about Dragonbloods. Apparently, Jaune's problem was extremely simple. His Aura had yet to be unlocked by an emotional outburst. Now she needed to learn more about Half Dragons and, especially, Dragontongue.

Sitting alone in the white light of the lamp, she prepared herself for a long night. Opening a large tome titled " _Vlakhajanewaakh_ ", literally "Dragonbloods", she began to read in silence in the dark library.

_The true origins of Dragonbloods are unknown. However, the legends tell the story of Wilhelm Ironswing, the Supreme General of Humanity, and Videnhoken the Messenger of the Volcano, Commander of the Draconic Empire. It is said that the two leaders met in secret during the war that brought the Dragons near extinction. In a last attempt to save dragonkind, Ironswing accepted to take Videnhoken's blood in his own veins. The process took over a year, but it was eventually successful. Ironswing's children had wings and claws, and they were able to shapeshift into fully grown Dragons: the first Dragonbloods were born_ .

Pyrrha frowned and flipped through the pages aimlessly.

_One of the most important events of dragonkind is the War of Sunset, the same war that saw the end of the Dragons. Supreme General Jeveas Schnee, nicknamed "The Icehearted" for his cruelty, led his army of humans and Faunuses against the draconic people. The two heroes of the War of Sunset were Nakhov Wildeye (better known as Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh) and Nawde Hematite (better known as Iiroden Evik Khovakraikhan), two Dragonblood commanders whom led the defence of many cities. The second most important battle of the war had been the Bloodbath of Jasvamyyz. The lively citadel of Jasvamyyz, known for its high percentage of Dragonbloods and Faunuses in its population, was attacked in the year 1394 AGW (see the chapter about draconic calendar and timekeeping for more informations)_ .

With a grimace, Pyrrha skipped to the section about the battle, morbid curiosity attracting her.

_In the year 1393 AGW, the citadel Jasvamyyz was famous because of its acceptance. Every man, woman or child, no matter their race, could enter and find a life in the city. The citadel was utterly destroyed in the war recorded as Bloodbath of Jasvamyyz, although most human historians prefer to remember it as the Last Defence of Jasvamyyz._

_In the early Spring of the year 1394 AGW, a massive army of humans and enslaved Faunuses besieged the city, commanded by General Jeveas Schnee. Most historians remember him as "the Scourge of Monsters", but in the ancient text he's instead named "the Icehearted" or even "the Monster", a clear reference to his cruel habit to personally disembowel his prisoners. General Schnee firmly believed that Dragonbloods and Dragons were monsters that needed to be eliminated._

_[...]_

_Only the miraculous intervention of the heroes Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh, the Khorvlakha, and Iiroden Evik Khovakraikhan, the Khovakveokan, prevented the full-scale massacre. The two young Draconic Commanders led the defence of the city right to the last battle. In the end, however, the two had to flee with the scattered remains of their army and could only watch helplessly as their kin perished by the swords of the assailants. Until the Council banished it in the year 2655 AGW, one of the translation in Dragontongue of "may the Gods watch over you" could also be literally translated into "may you be the one to eliminate the Schnee murderers". Even nowadays, the Schnee family is still disliked by the Dragonbloods._

Pyrrha shivered and skipped to the section about the battle at the draconic capital, Vlakhahorak.

_After the defeat of the Bloodbath of Jasvamyyz, Khorvlakha and Khovakveokan tried one last counter attack in the plains before the city of Vlakhahorak, the capital of the Dragon Empire. They convinced the Supreme Commander Tyin'nan Un'heik Evik'hiin the Moonblade to lead the counteroffensive against General Schnee's army._

_The day of the battle, 600.000 human and Faunus soldiers faced an army of 250.000 Dragonbloods and Dragons. Of those 250.000, 2.000 were are remembered as the Dragoons. Their section then evolved and was adapted to humans into what now we call Dragon Knights._

_[...]_

_Despite all the efforts of the two young heroes, the Moonblade was captured and executed publicly. As the small and desperate army succumbed to the unrelenting attack of General Schnee, Khor Evik and Iiroden Evik tried to bring the civilians to safety, but they were then forced back into the castle of Vlakhahorak. There, they consigned themselves in exchange for the lives of the other Dragonbloods. The two heroes met their undeserved end in January, their wings severed in a sign of spite and their bodies left in the snow, preyed on by Grimm and animals. It is said that one of the Schnee family heirlooms is a cloak made from the membranes of the two heroes' wings, but the Schnees always denied the rumour. Said rumoured cloak had never been found. Historians suppose the cloak had been destroyed by General Schnee's children whom, horrified by their father's cruelty, killed him three years after the War of Sunset's end._

_Since that day, the Dragonbloods have been tolerated among humans, although they were never granted equality like Khorvlakha and Khovakveokan initially requested_ .

Feeling sick, Pyrrha slammed the book shut and pushed it aside, opting for an easier reading. Her eyes fell on a textbook about Dragontongue.

_The first rule to learn Dragontongue is to remember that the Language of Dragons is based on the addition of suffixes and prefixes. Verbs, adverbs and adjectives are all derived from nouns. The basic structure of the language is similar to our own, although it does present differences._

Pyrrha glanced at the page and began taking notes before realizing to be spacing out and closing the book. She would study Dragontongue later. Reaching out for another book, she prepared herself for a _very_ long night.

Unseen, Jaune was regarding her with a small confused frown. _'What is she doing?'_ , he asked himself.

#####

The next day, Pyrrha was staggering. She had passed the whole night in the library, studying and taking notes on Dragons and Dragonbloods. After noticing that Jaune too looked tired, she caught the chance and gathered everyone else of Team JNPR and Team RWBY around her in order to speak with them while Jaune took a nap in their dorm. The two teams followed her in the library, where she showed them all the books she had read and all the notes she had taken.

"According to my notes, his problem is his Aura", she summed up. "He needs a strong emotional emotion to unlock it".

"It's not gonna work", dully stated Ruby. "We already knew _that_. And we already tried. Many times".

"I even tried to scare the Hell out of him quite a couple of times", recalled Yang with fondness. "Once, when we were fourteen, I brought him in Forever Fall and left him stuck on a tall tree with a herd of Ursai roaring underneath".

"And _that_ wasn't enough?", asked Weiss, raising an eyebrow. "Either he's crazily brave, or he's crazily stupid".

"Nah, he just knew how I was", replied Yang. "He knew I would never leave him in danger like that. When, two hours later, Uncle Qrow went to fetch him, he was looking quite bored".

"Maybe we should try make him have a sugar rush!", offered Nora. "That's how _I_ unlocked my Aura!".

"It's not wise to do that, Nora", Ren calmed her. "Let's remember that you destroyed half a forest before I could stop you".

"I'm not the one to usually get involved in conversation", stated Blake. "But if I understood correctly, the problem is that Jaune never, in seventeen years, experienced an emotion strong enough to unlock his Aura, right?".

Pyrrha, Ruby and Yang nodded.

"So, my question is: how do you think you can make him unlock it, if it's so difficult?", she asked. "If I'm not wrong, you said he lived in the Emerald Forest with his family. The Grimm, and his sisters, should've been enough to unlock his Aura already".

"Here, it's said that some Dragonbloods need certain emotions to unlock their Aura", explained Pyrrha. "For example, there's a legend about how two major heroes of Dragonbloods, Khor and Iiroden, unlocked their Aura".

"In Iiroden's case, she unlocked it because of anger. The event has not been descried much, but it seems that, at some point of their friendship, Khor was captured and suffered attempted rape. Iiroden got so mad to unlock her Aura... and she killed all the assailants by shapeshifting into Dragon and... _eating_ them all", she concluded with a disgusted grimace. "Khor, instead, seemed unable to unlock his Aura through anger, although there are many records about cases in which he got mad. Instead, he unlocked his Aura after he proposed to Iiroden, four years before the War of Sunset. Apparently, the kiss they shared ignited a spark in his soul, and his Aura was unlocked by the sheer love of the moment".

"Sickeningly sweet", noted Yang with a sly smirk. "Are you planning on kissing him outright the second you see him? I'm okay with that, if you want".

"Yang, that's not funny", retorted Blake, frowning. "So you're saying that Jaune needs to experience a certain emotion. That is?".

"I don't know... yet. That's why I wanted you here", she admitted. "Here it says that is possible to understand which emotions would be the best. Something about a Dragonblood's minerals or something like that".

"The old theory about mineral correlation", snorted Yang. "The emotions associated with both minerals are okay. Pfft. It's bullshit. Never worked. The author wasn't a Half Dragon, evidently".

"Well, it's worth a shot!", exclaimed Nora. "So, Jaune's minerals are gold and sapphire".

Immediately, Yang spoke up. "Gold is related to the heart, the Sun, to love, Life, strength, creativity and healing. Sapphire is related to wisdom, magnanimous thinking, love, kindness and focus". She sent a crooked smile at them when she saw their surprised expressions. "I memorized the stuff time ago. As I said, we already tried the mineral correlation method. And since love is the only thing that is mentioned twice, do you think we need him to fall in love?".

"Making someone fall in love is difficult", noted Blake. "And I'm not sure he would appreciate the gesture".

"Exactly", said Yang, with a firm tone. "That's why we never did it. What should we do, now?".

"Well, you said you tried many things. Maybe we could try all together", proposed Pyrrha. "After all, we are five more people with fresh ideas who can help. Weiss, don't you think it would be wonderful if you could make it up to Jaune for your... outburst during the initiation?".

Weiss brightened. "Absolutely! Meanwhile, why don't we try something?", she immediately replied. "You said any emotion is good. Let's surprise him. Like... I don't know, Yang kissing him out of the blue. That would surely make _me_ faint".

"Oh, really?", asked Yang, immediately interested, with an impish smirk. "Good to know".

"Don't you dare", menaced the heiress. "But since you don't sound so against the idea, why don't you do it?".

"Oh, no. I have a better idea, Ice Queen", she grinned. "And you won't like it, but I think everyone else would accept it, even if it's probably not gonna work".

#####

"Why am I doing this again?", groaned Weiss as the seven plotters entered JNPR's dormitory. "Remind me, Yang".

"Because if you don't Ruby and I will make Hell look incredibly appealing to you", smirked Yang. "Come on, do it. We were four against three. You have to do it".

"Pyrrha, Blake and I voted against this, why _our_ opinion isn't listened to?", she lamented.

"Because Ruby, Nora and so by extension Ren, and I voted against you", the blonde shot back. "And since we are in a democracy, four win against three and you have to do it".

Weiss groaned again as the seven made their way to Jaune's bed, where the blissfully unaware of their plans Dragonblood was sleeping peacefully, dreaming of going on a holiday with his family and his team and visiting Vacuo all together. In the dream, he was talking with Pyrrha about the desert of Vacuo, and she was explaining him all the things he didn't know about it. Then, dream-Pyrrha turned to face him and said _'Jaune, there is one more thing you need to know'_. Unsuspecting, he urged her to continue -thankfully, in the dream they could understand each other without the need for that damn translator- and prepared himself for another long, interesting explanation made up by his mind. Instead, dream-Pyrrha leaned in and kissed him lightly. Shocked, he bolted awake.

Only to find Weiss Schnee -the real one- kissing him.

With a terrified scream, he jumped out of bed, throwing her off-balance and scaring everyone into taking a step back. Seeing he was surrounded, he turned and jumped on the sill, opening the large window as he unfolded his wings. Then, under the stupefied gazes of the others, he jumped out of the window, uncaring of Pyrrha's worried exclamation, and glided into the garden. After safely landing, he glanced one more time at his dorm's window.

And then he proceeded to run as fast as he could from that nightmare.


	7. Blackmail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone.
> 
> I've noticed that this fic has gotten way more appreciation than Twisted Pasts. I just wondered why.
> 
> However, I also noticed that canon quickly gets boring for me. I could continue my fic, but honestly I prefer to start anew. I won't rewrite this, because I hate to erase works, but I've renamed this from "Dragon Blood" to "Dragons and Knights". I will then write a fic that I will call "Dragon Blood". It will be a way more fantasy fic. They are no more in Remnant, although I will change a few things to adapt them to RWBY, but in the world of my book. I saw that quite a few reviewers said that I have a lot of inspiration source. I have to correct the statement.
> 
> I have a world of inspiration.
> 
> Literally. I have drawn and invented an entire new world for my book, so now I will use it as an AU for my next fic. Chapter 1 of that fic will probably be just informations you need to know about it, like what are Dragonbloods and why are Dragons exctint, or how timekeeping works there.
> 
> And this time, all Arkos will be draconic! Yang would say it will get hot, but let's not pick up bad habits! ;)
> 
> Until next time, Khorevis!
> 
> (btw, my very username is from Dragontongue. It means Amethyst Silver, although it should be written Khor Evik)

It took a full hour to find Jaune, who had been hiding in Professor Goodwitch's office, and several more minutes to calm him down. Still, he shied away from Weiss for the rest of the week, and growled at Yang, Nora, Ren and Ruby for the whole day. Nobody blamed him. Nora even admitted that if she'd been the one to wake up with Weiss kissing _her_ , she would've gone into a murderous madness and then proceeded to run all the way to Vacuo, where she would've become a serial killer who targeted all the white-haired girls in the kingdom. As usual, no one listened to her.

After they explained him _why_ had they urged Weiss to do such a thing -and Yang received a not-so-weak bite for that-, the next day found them back in the library, this time all eight of them clustered together.

"So, which is our next move?", asked Yang. "Looks like our first try went poorly. Any bright idea?".

Jaune growled a curse at her. The other three Dragonbloods firmly refused to translate the insult to the others.

"I don't know. I mean, _we_ tried for years. Maybe we should just... accept our powerlessness?", proposed Ruby. "Jaune doesn't look any nearer to unlocking his Aura than when he was ten".

"This is not an option", stated Pyrrha, earning a sigh from Jaune. "Let's try to make him experience happiness. Jaune, what do you like? Maybe, if we can mix together all your favourite activities, we can unlock your Aura through happiness...".

"Won't work", replied Yang. "We already tried that way".

"Maybe I could give him meditation lessons and help him with his concentration", said Ren. "Pyrrha _did_ say that his Aura can be unlocked by focus, too. It's worth a try".

"I honestly don't think it will work", retorted Blake, flatly. "Does he have any phobia? We could try with fear...".

" _Na, weeknakh!_ ", interrupted Jaune, crossing his arms and scowling.

"Jaune's right, fear is not the right way", nodded Ruby. "It's just that... it's difficult to know _what_ is right, since none of us is a dragonologist".

"Dracologist", corrected Weiss. "And if I'm not wrong, my family _does_ have a few famous dracologist among the family friends. We could...".

"No", Yang cut her off. "We're not letting anyone outside this group know this problem. Do you know that the Council could take action, if they knew of a Dragonblood without his Aura?".

The others paled. They all knew what "take action" meant if the Council was involved: culling.

"So what are we gonna do?", asked Nora, exasperated. "Do you think I like to just sit here and watch as someone of my kind has to go through this?".

"Nora, we all are trying to help", Ren reassured her. "It's just that this problem requires more than just Maghnild to be solved".

"That much's obvious", muttered Nora. "It's not like I can hammer down on Jaune until he unlocks his Aura... right?".

"Right", nodded Ren.

"So what are we gonna do, now?", asked Yang, impatiently.

Jaune sighed and fished out his Scroll from his pocket. Everyone watched attentively as he typed and waited for the translation to appear on the screen before dropping the device on the table, screen up, for everyone to see.

_Nothing. You can not help me, so do not wrack your brain about this. It is not worth the effort_ .

"Jaune, this isn't true", argued Pyrrha. "You _are_ worth the effort, even if we can't unlock your Aura".

Jaune gave her a tiny smile and walked away, not before retrieving his Scroll and pocketing it again. Slowly, the others left, too. First were Weiss and Blake, one off to study for the Dust exam and the other off to read for Oobleck's latest essay. Then went Ren and Nora, just because Nora was getting hungry, and everyone knew by then that a hungry Nora was a terrifying sight even for the bravest Knight. Last went Ruby and Yang, briefly thanking her for the effort she was making just to help Jaune, heading back to their dorm, probably to play one of Yang's latest videogames. Left alone in the library, Pyrrha collapsed on a chair and sighed. _'So much work, and we're back to square one'_ , she thought bitterly. _'How could this go worse, I don't know'_. Never taunt Fate, she should've learned that.

"Locked Aura, uh?".

Whipping around, she saw Cardin and his team walking out from behind a shelf. _'Why in the world didn't I checked if we were alone?!'_ , she berated herself as she watched the four smirking students walk toward her. "Cardin. What do you want?".

"I was strolling by and I _happened_ to hear your little conversation", he grinned malignly. "Poor Jaune... I really pity him. You know, I think I will call a specialist to help him".

Pyrrha narrowed her eyes. Nice Cardin wasn't in the natural order of things. "What do you want?", she repeated.

"I bet the Council will be more than glad to help him out with his little problem, you know? After all, it _is_ the law that every civilian should report any abnormality in a Half Dragon as soon as they discover it". His grin widened. "Instead of all those stupid books about history, try and read the Book of Laws of Remnant, chapter thirty-four, section seven, article thirteen, comma two. The whole chapter thirty-four is about the Half Dragon laws".

"Cardin, what...".

"Don't worry, you can do something about it", he said. "But... it would come with a price. A fair price. The life of your pathetic leader seems to be worth quite something for you".

Pyrrha's eyes widened as she realized what did he mean. "You...".

"You know, I really don't have time for Oobleck's essay. Will you take care of it?". Without waiting for her response, he grinned and continued. "Thanks girl. And, of course, don't tell anyone, if you want Jauney boy to go on living, okay?".

As she stood there, dumbstruck, Team CRDL turned and exited the library, laughing and patting each other's shoulders for the well done -vile- blackmail.

#####

"Pyrrha, what's wrong?", asked Nora as soon as she entered the dorm. "You look terrible".

"Nothing", said the taller redhead, quickly changing into her nightclothes and throwing herself on the bed. "Just tired".

Her teammates exchanged a frown. " _Na, hiena wer na kheranan_ ", stated Jaune, sitting on the edge of her bed and placing a hand on her arm. " _Xal'okh vik hiena narekhan?_ ".

"Nothing's wrong, Jaune, I'm just tired", she replied, and it was partially true: she was tired. But something was wrong, too. And by something, she meant everything. "Tomorrow I'll be perfectly fine".

Jaune made an unsatisfied grunt and left her to her sleep.

#####

The following morning didn't bring good news to Team JNPR. Pyrrha ate breakfast in silence, something that was highly unusual for the usually serene redhead, and immediately after classes she ran off, not answering to her teammates' questions of "Where are you going?!", who knew where to do who knew what.

During lunch Team CRDL seemed even more cocky than the other days, but strangely they left Jaune alone. Not that he complained. But that, together with Pyrrha's unusualness, successfully put the blond Dragonblood on his guard. He passed lunch frowning at Pyrrha, who in turn was looking down at her plate, picking at her food just like Jaune had picked at his own when the others had asked him about Cardin. For a second, he pictured Team CRDL bullying Pyrrha and he almost laughed: the bullies would've a very bad time if they ever tried. Maybe she couldn't take on the whole team if they cooperated, but one by one wasn't a hard challenge for the four times Mistralian champion.

After the afternoon classes, where Pyrrha _lost to Cardin!_ , Jaune got really worried. He asked Yang and Ruby, but they didn't know anything about it. All they knew was that Pyrrha looked really down when they left her in the library, but then again she looked really down even when _he_ left the library, and a simple failure with unlocking his Aura couldn't have made her so miserable. Something had happened. _What_ , he didn't know.

Ren, Nora, Weiss and Blake didn't have any more answers for him, although Nora _did_ promise to help him find out what was wrong with their teammate, and since Nora was in, Ren joined the plan too. Yang and Ruby accepted, too, although more because Jaune asked them than out of worry. Weiss and Blake were dragged along as unwilling accomplices. _Very_ unwilling.

The six plotters were a force to fear and behold, but unfortunately they hadn't the gift of omniscience, and so they could only do what every normal people could do: wait and see. Under Nora's suggestion -who was elated that one of her suggestion had actually been listened to-, they organized guard turns to check on Pyrrha. The whole plan looked quite suspicious and, frankly, also quite ridiculous, as Weiss pointed out.

"Look at you! You're stalking Pyrrha just because _today_ she looks a bit down!", she berated Ruby during their watch turn. "Can't she just be down for _a day?_ You know, it's common for people to have bad days".

"Oh, shut up", replied Ruby, waving her off. They had had a rough start, but she was slowly becoming friends with Weiss. This did not prevent her from shutting her up every time she thought it was necessary. Namely, half the times she spoke. "At least with this Jaune has something to keep his mind off his... problem".

Weiss was defeated by that argument. She knew that the sisters would do almost anything to help Jaune, after more than seven years of watching him struggle and fail, and she had realized that when Yang had _forced_ her to kiss him, for both of them utter disgust. Not that Jaune was hideous, but Weiss really didn't want to repeat the experience. And apparently, Jaune didn't, either.

It was only two days after that, during Jaune's watch turn, he discovered what was happening.

He had followed Pyrrha in the library, discreetly hiding behind a shelf to keep her, if not within his eyesight, at least within earshot. And what he heard he didn't like. Barely ten minutes after they had arrived, Team CRDL entered the library laughing loudly and joking among themselves, something they knew shouldn't be done in a library due to the strict rule of silence. Nora had once been banned for two days from the library because of a particularly loud belch. It had been embarrassing. However, there was nothing embarrassing in the way Cardin spoke to Pyrrha.

"How's my best girl Pyrrha going?", he asked, snickering, and Jaune tensed immediately. "I need a small favour. I'm sure you can do it".

"What do you want, Cardin?", asked Pyrrha, her voice as tense as Jaune. "I'm studying".

"Oh, you know, just a box of Grimm Wasps. Just for fun", innocently replied Cardin, but everyone knew that Cardin was all but innocent. "And make sure they have _really_ big stingers. It's important".

"What are you going to do with those?", Pyrrha inquired. Jaune heard a chair moving and guessed that Pyrrha had to have stood up. "Wasps can be dangerous if placed... in the wrong hands".

"Are you doubting me, Pyrrha? I'm hurt!", laughed Cardin, the mocking tone never leaving his voice. "Just have the box ready for this evening and bring it to our dorm. Otherwise... say bye-bye to your Jauney boy".

Jaune tenseness became confusion. Him? He had to have heard wrong. There was no way...

Or maybe there was.


	8. Fear and Friends

Pyrrha had had a terrible day. She hated lying to her friends, especially when they looked so concerned for her, but she knew she couldn't say a word, otherwise three things would happen. Cardin would get killed by Team RWBY and Team JN(P)R, and thus they would be arrested as murderers. Two, in the case Cardin survived, he would inform the Council about Jaune's... problem and he would've been culled. Three, in the case Cardin hadn't really the guts or the vileness to indirectly kill someone, Jaune would end up being massacred by Team CRDL the second his friends turned their backs.

So telling them wasn't an option.

It had been humiliating having to lose to Cardin of all people. She would've been happy to lose to Jaune, but today she had really wanted to -as Nora suggested several times- break Cardin's legs. Unfortunately, the bully had foreseen her wish, and had sent Dove to make the usual menace of "...and if you don't... well, say bye to Arc". She had noticed that Sky -the other Half Dragon in Team CRDL apart from Cardin himself- looked slightly uncomfortable with the blackmail. Maybe he was feeling bad for Jaune... She didn't get her hopes too high. She had long learned that it only served to make the fall hurt more later.

That evening, when she reached her dorm, she was surprised to find it completely empty. A brief thought of "they don't want anything to do with me because they know I'm keeping something from them" passed through her mind, but she kicked it out with the force she would've liked to kick Cardin's butt during the training match earlier that day. And, for the ones whom don't know, that meant very strongly. Like, wall-breaking strongly.

She went to ask Team RWBY if they knew where her teammates where, but their dorm was empty, too. The beds were half made, meaning that Ruby's and Yang's beds were unmade as usual while Weiss's and Blake's ones were neatly made as was normal. That meant they were still up, likely with Team JN(P)R, somewhere in Beacon, doing who knew what. _'Did they see me with Cardin and are now killing him?'_ , she asked herself, and immediately began running. Stopping a student in the hall, she hurriedly asked her if she had seen the twin teams. Her answer led her outside, in the garden.

There!

Six people were standing around what really resembled a large metal box. The six were talking nervously, and Yang was apparently leaning against the box, speaking non-stop. From the box were coming stifled wails. They had caged Cardin?

She broke into a run.

#####

Jaune knew what he had to do when he sought out his teammates and friends. He gathered them all in the gardens later that afternoon, ready to tell them everything.

"Just a question", sweetly smiled Yang, her anger hidden under a soft façade. "When may I kill Cardin? Oh, and torture, too".

"You can't, Yang. Blackmail isn't a valid excuse for murder", replied Ruby. "Although I wouldn't be against beating the hell out of him first thing tomorrow at breakfast".

Weiss nodded. That was enough for Jaune to understand just how angry everyone was. Idly, she wondered what would've happened if Cardin had blackmailed _him_ , instead. He pushed the thought away.

" _Na_ , Ruby", he called, blessing the Gods that he could at least say his friends' names without somehow translating them into Dragontongue. " _Mekh, xal'ekh viakh nikkea?_ ".

"I don't know, Jaune, I really don't know", replied Yang with a sigh, letting out all her anger. "What emotion could be so powerful to unlock your Aura, now? By the way, you really have an unfair lot of it".

"Maybe it's better for now to focus on what to do with Cardin", said Blake. "Jaune, why do you think Cardin overheard us, that day?".

"No, wait!", said Weiss. "I'm sick of hearing unintelligible gibberish being translated by Yang, Nora or Ruby. Let's just ask this: Jaune, do you think Cardin overheard us?".

" _Vok_ ", growled Jaune, crossing his arms.

"Then we have a problem", continued Weiss. "Pyrrha probably won't ever admit she's being blackmailed. Cardin neither. If we can't get proof from one of the directly involved, we can't prove it to Goodwitch. Also because that would let Goodwitch know about Jaune's lack of Aura, and that's not an option, right?".

Everyone nodded.

"Then we should find proof for it. Getting involved ourselves won't ever work. Goodwitch gives detention regardless of the motivation", she reasoned. "Let's do this: why don't we record the next... meeting... between Pyrrha and Cardin? This way we will be able to bring evidence to Goodwitch without revealing Jaune's secret... although I think Cardin would spill immediately just to bring someone else in the mud with him".

" _Na,_ Weiss. _Khola vi oth bwekr, kkerla ryienaill werakh na wikan_ ", said Jaune with a sigh. " _Al bwekr oak_ Blake".

"Uh?", said Blake, although she didn't understand much.

"Jaune, which idea?", asked Yang, confused.

" _Jukh'tyn_ ", simply said Jaune. " _Yiewwla jukh'tyn_ ".

"For your Aura?". At his nod, Yang's eyes narrowed. "Jaune, we couldn't unlock your Aura with all the others emotions because they weren't strong enough. Are you sure you want to use _fear_ to unlock it? ".

" _Hiena vik_ _kherananwaj waj'yhe nah'khara_ Pyrrha _khimaara_ ", shrugged Jaune. " _Nij'reka viakh yiewwlakha_ ".

"Guys, what are you talking about?", asked Blake, who only understood the words "Pyrrha" and "Blake". Well, not just that, but Jaune was speaking pretty fast, and she wasn't sure of having heard right.

Yang and Jaune glared at each other for a very long time. Even Ruby, who was used to it, began to look worried after the first two minutes had passed. Everyone else was getting slightly crept out. The two Dragonbloods were staring at each other with such an intensity it was a miracle the air between them hadn't imploded yet. In the end, it was Yang who looked away, even if it was clearly she could've gone on for a lot more.

"If _you_ want to try, I guess nobody can stop you ", she scoffed, irritated. "Let's at least make sure you don't kill yourself. With our help, at least we should be able to avoid that. But I'll let you know that Pyrrha won't like this".

Jaune shrugged.

"Very well, then. It's your fear, not mine. Blake? Jaune's claustrophobic. Ironically, when he starts to feel the claustrophobia, he closes up on himself and wraps his wings around him. I guess it's like a "safe cocoon" for him", said Yang, turning to her partner. "We have to get a steel cage. No bars: solid metal. And let's wait until dark: I don't think the others would let us do it, otherwise".

"Jaune, are you sure?", asked Ruby, worried. "A phobia is something big. It's not good to taunt it like this".

Jaune shrugged again. " _Nij'reka vi yiewwlakha_ ", he replied, determined. Although he knew that he wouldn't be feeling so determined as soon as his plan was put into action. "Yang _, akt eear'khera vi hye'werakha, elnikkeaor wer na baunrakha al jiikh'van_ ".

Yang bit her lip. "Can't promise, Jaune. Just... let's not speak about screams, okay?". She gave a weak laugh. "It's not exactly a happy argument".

#####

Blinding darkness.

If Jaune had had to describe the tight darkness that surrounded him at the moment, those words would've been the ones he woudl've used. He had rolled up in fetal position Thirty minutes before, but it didn't help. The steel walls of the cage kept all the light out, and he was completely submerged in pure darkness. His wails sent vibrations down his spine, making him shiver in terror. His hadn't been a good plan.

Suffocating.

If Jaune had had to describe the hideous situation he was in, that word would've been the one he would've used. Although he knew, on a rational level, that he _did_ have enough air to breathe, his lungs were so contracted in fear he could barely take a sharp intake of breath once every while. All that breath was spent in pitiful whines that he knew were useless. His hadn't been a good plan, especially telling Yang not to open the cage even if he started to scream, something he expected to do very soon. Only the soothing voice of Yang, who was continually speaking to him from the other side of the cage kept him from freaking out completely. Instead he just sat there, tears of fear running down his cheeks.

Dying.

If Jaune had had to describe the horrible feeling that was creeping all over him, that word would've been the one he would've used. The air was robbed from his lungs every time he shifted the smallest degree, his body registering for the umpteenth time the loathsomely small space he had. He wanted to spread his wings at their fullest span, he wanted to feel the fresh air of Vale's autumnal evening on his skin, he wanted to see his friends again. In his mind, terrifyingly clear, there was the ever growing sense of dread, the dark doubt that he was going to die. And if something didn't change, it was true: his fear would've closed his lungs, slowly suffocating him to death. His hadn't been a good plan, especially not farewelling his friends one last time. Yang had the order not to open the cage, and he couldn't exit. He had dug his own grave, and the worst thing was that he still hadn't unlocked his Aura, although he was experiencing the most intense fear he had ever experienced in his whole life. The only thing that kept him from letting his terror overcome him was Yang's voice.

And then even that stopped.

For a second, he stopped caring about the dark tightness and waited for her to resume speaking. And then the seed of doubt began to grow. His friends had gone away, probably unable to endure his self-inflicted torture any more, because they knew he wasn't going to exit from that box. Yang's voice wasn't returning. Nobody was taking over. He had known Yang for a long time, and surely hers was a comfortingly familiar voice,  but right now he would welcome even Cardin's. Ruby was probably somewhere throwing up, and the others probably weren't far behind. Nobody came to speak to him. He was alone, in a tight space, in the darkness. His three greatest fears had just come true.

His heart went in hyper tension, ironically pumping his blood faster even if his subconscious knew it was the end. He began to scream at the top of his lungs, vainly hoping for someone to get the hint and open the damn cage. Immediately afterwards, he went in hyperventilation, the breaths coming short and ragged, bringing small quantities of oxygen to his brain. He began  to convulse arrhythmically, trying to break free from his steel prison.

And then, a cold calm descended upon him.  Everything ceased to matter . He couldn't afford dying in there, he realized. It would have been cowardly to die in there, leaving his friends to go on living with the knowledge they had a hand in his death. He couldn't do that to his friends. He had to live. His team needed him. His friends needed him. Pyrrha had let Cardin blackmail her to save him, now he couldn't just die. It would've been cowardly and ungrateful to throw his life away like that, and an Arc wasn't either. His life, that his mother had given him so selflessly, was too precious for him and  _for others_ to be wasted.

He needed to live. A strange feeling ran through him, and the darkness disappeared, chased away from a bright white light. He needed to live. His team needed him. His friends needed him. His family needed him. There were too many people whom needed him to just let them down like that. He couldn't do that. He had to live with them. He had always thought that dying for others was the most selfless thing he could do. Now he realized that the true challenge was  _living_ for others. Was not letting go of Life no matter what. Was not letting his problems overcome him. Was fighting everything and everyone for the ones he cared about. He cared far too much for them to just let his life slip away like that.

" _JIDUEA VI AL VLAKH HIENA IJKEN KOTH'VOAKANA'KY VIEW WIETH_ _OTH OEM OAK ALAKH VLAKHAAKH_ _!!!_ ".

#####

"What are you d-umpf!". Pyrrha was cut off by Nora who clamped a hand over her mouth and gestured her to be silent. From the steel cage the wails continued to come. "What are you doing?", she repeated in a quieter voice.

"Helping", darkly replied Ren. "Although not in the way we'd hoped to help".

"Why did you cage Cardin?", asked the taller redhead. "You'll get detention!".

"It's not Cardin who's in there", interjected Weiss, her face even paler than normal and a slightly sick expression on her face. "But you have to swear that you won't do anything nor speak loudly, if we tell you".

She considered her options. That meant they didn't want her to free whoever was in the cage, and that was bad, but she was confident enough she could talk them out of it without need for shouting. "Fine. Who's in there?".

Weiss bit her lip and looked at Ruby, who had been forced to stay a bit further away than the others. The poor girl was on her knees on the grass, and as they watched she bent over and threw up, probably not for the first time. Looking around, Pyrrha realized everyone looked queasy. Even Nora, who normally was all grins and cheerfulness, was now of a sick shade of white. Walking over to Ruby, accompanied by Ren, Nora and Weiss, and avoiding the pool of vomit at the small crimsonette's feet, she patted her back.

"Ruby, who is in there?", she asked, her voice calm and comforting.

Not for long.

"He wanted to try f-fear", replied Ruby, bracing herself so tightly it looked like it hurt, and it was probably true. "W-We told him n-not to, b-but J-J-Jaune was i-irremovible".

Pyrrha's heart stopped altogether. Only Nora's ready hand on her mouth kept her from screaming, and it took both Ren and Weiss to keep her from running over to Jaune.

"Pyrrha, he wanted to!", Yang whisper-yelled in her ear after having walked away from the cage. Her hand gripped Pyrrha's forearm with incredible strength. "Trust him! It's what we all are doing".

"How can I trust him when he locked himself in a cage!", shouted Pyrrha, her voice muffled by Nora's hand. "It's insanity!".

"Maybe it is, but still we have to trust him!", hissed Yang. "Do you think we aren't all scared and worried?! It's over twenty minutes Ruby is vomiting".

"Then open the damn cage!", she shot back. "You're killing him!".

Yang paled at the accuse, especially because she was thinking the same thing, but she respected Jaune too much to just break her promise. He would've died before breaking his word... almost always. When he had to chose between his friends and his word, his word never stood a chance. He was okay with becoming a liar, if that ensured his friends' safety.

And then Jaune began to scream.

Yang released Pyrrha's arm immediately and took two steps toward the cage before falling on her knees and throwing up like Ruby. Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, Weiss and Blake began to cry in silence. Pyrrha had guessed that Jaune had made them swear not to open the cage. However, a second later, all seven of them bolted toward the cage, all of them forgetting everything except Jaune. Yang reached it first and raised a gauntleted hand to crash the lock and free her friend, but she didn't have time.

" _JIDUEA VI AL VLAKH HIENA IJKEN KOTH'VOAKANA'KY VIEW WIETH_ _OTH OEM OAK ALAKH VLAKHAAKH_ _!!!_ ".


	9. Oemakh oak alakh Vlakhaakh

" _JIDUEA VI AL VLAKH HIENA IJKEN KOTH'VOAKANA'KY VIEW WIETH_ _OTH OEM OAK ALAKH VLAKHAAKH_ _!!!_ ".

T he seven of them jumped back at Jaune's shout. It wasn't anything like the previous ones. Until now, he had been whining and wailing and screaming out in terror. This was a shout, not a scream. And it was devoid of fear. It was pure determination, it was secure and it was  _powerful_ . For a fraction of second, the silence reigned supreme, and they held their breaths, ready to jump back into action. Then the instant passed and the cage exploded.

Everyone but Pyrrha leapt back, avoiding the shreds of steel thrown at murderous speed in every direction. They all had their Auras, so they were safe. But Jaune? She didn't know. And so she stayed where she was, determined not to leave him. She would never leave him again. And if he would exit the cage alive...  _when_ he would exit the cage alive, she would have the scolding of the  millennium ready for him. Even Professor Goodwitch would pale in comparison.

The spot where once stood the cage was now lit with blinding white light. Everyone else shielded and closed their eyes, but Pyrrha kept hers firmly open, although narrowed to avoid most of the brightness. In the light, something began to move. Millions of miniscule specs of white light began to converge, assembling themselves in a white-bright form. In just a few seconds, all the particles had attached together into what now Pyrrha could behold with wide eyes.

Before her proudly stood a golden Dragon. He was larger than Nora's draconic form, but also evidently less strong. Where Nora was a mass of scale-covered muscles, he was lither, his slender form covered in golden scales. A hard ridge ran down from his neck on his spine to his tail, where in slowly  trailed off until it disappeared.  At the end of the tail there was a bone extension, flat and sharp, very similar to a sword . On his head towered two long,  lean horns, with a third longer horn right between them. His eyes looked like two sapphires with vertical black slits, but they were much livelier than gems. Idly, in the back of her mind, she realized that he must have been at least  two yards tall at shoulder-height and  seven yards in length, with a wing span that easily reached  twenty yards in width. He wasn't the largest Dragon she had ever seen, nor the most magnificent, but he was still a Dragon.

Without even looking at the  six students  behind her , the Dragon unfolded his great wings -revealing Pyrrha's guess to be correct- and prepared himself for flying. Pyrrha didn't even need to think about it. She took three steps and jumped, using her Semblance on every thing made of metal she was wearing to leap higher, and landed on the Dragon's back just a second before he lifted himself off the ground with a powerful wing gust. Holding on tight to the hard ridge on his back, she smiled as she realized what she was doing.

She was riding a Dragon.

Had Yang been slightly less dumbstruck and awestruck and dead-brained and shocked, she would've said a very inappropriate joke, but fortunately she had temporarily forgotten how to speak.

#####

" _JIDUEA VI AL VLAKH HIENA IJKEN KOTH'VOAKANA'KY VIEW WIETH_ _OTH OEM OAK ALAKH VLAKHAAKH_ _!!!_ ".

Jaune felt the sheer power that he had felt flowing through him now focusing on a single task.  His newfound Aura immediately attacked his body, breaking it down to tiny specs of light. Idly, he wondered how it was that he wasn't feeling any excruciating pain for the disintegration, but his ability to think was being seriously threatened by what was happening. While his body was now gone, his mind was still able to analyse everything, although he now lacked of all the five senses.

And then his Aura patched him back together.

Now he felt different. His body wasn't crouching, nor it was humanoid any more. He was larger, and he felt a curious sensation against his skin, unfamiliar but comfortingly pleasant.  _'Scales'_ , she realized.  _'I have scales'_ . He felt completely different. He knew more than felt his three horns and his hard spinal ridge. The strangest sensation was the tail. It was a completely new limb, something he had never had experience with, and yet it felt so natural to him. Everything had changed. Even his senses now were sharper, acuter. His wings had grown a lot, and now he had a wing span of at least twenty or so yards. His teeth had turned into fangs, long and sharp like every predator's, and he now had claws. Long, hard, sharp claws that had sunk in the ground.

Bursting the cage open had taken a tool on his Aura, as now he could feel it weaker, but it hadn't been enough to stop him. When he opened his eyes, he saw seven people standing in front of him. Six of them were shielding their eyes, and so he realized to be enveloped in a cocoon of white light, but the seventh was standing right in front of him, a figure he remembered tall and proud but that now was only proud as he needed to look down to see her. His partner was looking at him with wide eyes, not moving and apparently not breathing.

Unfolding his golden wings, he tensed in preparation for his first flight. He prepared himself both physically, by tensing his muscles, and mentally, by embracing himself for just how great it would feel. His partner snapped out of her stillness just in time to leap on his back -her weight almost going unnoticed by Jaune- and hold on to him as he took off with a mighty wing gust. The fresh night air whipped his face and he breathed deeply as he flapped his wings again, gaining more and more height. When he was high enough, darted forwards, using his tail to balance himself out and avoid crashing to the ground on his first flight. Yang had been right: it was all instinct. Maybe he would need training to reach the level of experienced Dragons, but he could fly.

From his back, he heard his partner's joyful cry. Feeling playful, he responded with a loud roar that snapped the six students on the ground out of their stillness. They began to cheer him and his partner as they flew high above Beacon's courtyard. In a bout of enthusiasm, he darted toward the Beacon Tower, toward Ozpin's office. He knew he would be there. He anchored himself at the tower as he crawled around it like a snake, unconsciously imitating the typical image of a Dragon: curled around a tower. The difference was that he didn't have imprisoned princesses at the top. He had a very amused-looking Headmaster who watched him with a sincere smile on his face. After he managed to get a nod out of the man, Jaune took off from the Tower and headed back to the courtyard, briefly checking if his partner was still there. She was, laughing like never before.

Landing on the flat ground was a more difficult task than curling around the Beacon Tower, but he managed not to kill himself and his partner while executing the manoeuvre.  Immediately, he was surrounded by the six students he had left on the ground just five minutes before. His partner refused to climb down his back and instead opted for hugging his neck and holding onto it as he sat on his hind legs and regarded the others with a joyous expression so intense it was obvious even on his draconic features.

Yang and Ruby were speechless, simply grinning like madwomen and patting his shoulders -although Ruby had to pat his leg since she wasn't tall enough-,  quite forcefully in Yang's case. Weiss and Blake, whom had never witnessed a Dragonblood's first shapeshifting, were confabulating nearby, still unsure of what had happened. Nora was simply ecstatic, and it took Ren all his strength to prevent her from joining Pyrrha on the Dragon's back.

"Hey!", exclaimed Nora, her brain having a crazy wonderful idea.  " Why don't we all shapeshift and have fun for the night? ".

She looked around, expecting blank and flat stares as usual, or maybe facepalmings, but surely not expecting them all to exchange intrigued glances. Weiss already knew how to ride thanks to the training she had as a Schnee, although it was the first time she rode a  _willing_ Dragon. Blake, on the other hand, had never ridden a Dragon in her entire life, and was more doubtful. All protests died away as Yang, Ruby and Nora distanced themselves from the others to shapeshift.

Three beacons of light -yellow, red and pink- later, three more Dragons were standing in the courtyard.

Nora was smaller than both Jaune and Yang, with luminous pink scales covering her entire body except for the wings' membranes, that were more fragile and of a paler shade of pink that fitted her perfectly. Unlike Jaune, she didn't have horns on her head, but two twin hard ridges that functioned as eyebrows  for her aquamarine eyes and that then continued down the back of her head and neck, merging together in a third ridge very similar, but more pronounced, to Jaune's spinal one. While the golden Dragon was more serpentine and cat-like, Nora was a mass of sheer strength. Her powerful muscles strained her skin and scales every time they tensed, and her tail ended with what was terribly similar to a bone macehead.

Yang was definitely larger than Nora, although she was very similar to the pink Dragon in built. Only slightly inferior in size to Jaune, she was clearly stronger than the golden Dragon. Her scales were topaz yellow, a shade quite different from Jaune's, but yellow nonetheless. The membranes of her mighty wings were of the same yellow her hair was when she was in humanoid form.  She had two short but stout horns, similar yet completely different from Jaune's lithe ones, just above the -almost inexistent- forehead, optimal for ramming down a door  or even a wall , like Blake pointed out. Her eyes were sparking with mischief, two large lilac garnets split by vertical black pupils. She completely lacked of a spinal ridge, but her tail ended in a cluster of deadly spikes, and she had more spikes on each of her legs' middle joint, although they were less pronounced to avoid her hurting herself.

Ruby was the smallest of the four, and her scales upheld her name. Completely ruby-coloured except for her wings' membranes, that were bright red, she grinned as she saw Weiss's dumbstruck expression. Her silver eyes hadn't changed much, although now she had vertical slits instead of round pupils, and she exchanged a mischievous look with Yang.  Like her sister, she didn't have a spinal ridge, but her claws were longer and sharper than Yang's, Jaune's or Nora's. Her tail ended with a bone protruding from it, and said bone was slightly curved in a way that really resembled a scythe. On her head there was a cluster of small horns, six at least, none of them yet developed like Yang's or Jaune's, but in a couple of years she would probably have half a dozen horns to crown her regal draconic head.

Looking expectantly at their partners, the three riderless Dragonesses tossed their heads, trying to communicate their wish. It didn't take long. Ren, who was used to non-verbal communication with Nora, translated for the others as he jumped on Nora's back. Enthusiastic to the point of forgetting she was supposed to act regal, Weiss squealed in joy and leapt on Ruby's back, surprised that the former crimsonette could bear her -admittedly not inferior to a hundred pounds- weight without as much as shift uncomfortably. Blake was more hesitant, but in the end she let Yang convince her and climbed on the Dragoness's back, closing her eyes and holding on for dear life. Quite literally.

One after the other Yang, Jaune, Ruby and Nora took off, and everyone heard Blake's barely stifled cry. Yang growled hiccuping and bared her fangs, the draconic equivalent  of a mighty snicker, and was rewarded when Blake, outraged, steeled herself and ordered the Dragoness to fly faster,  something she did with great pleasure.

As they flew, they noticed the increasing crowd that was watching them, cheering and oohing  at them, humans, Faunus and Half Dragons alike. Perfectly knowing that what they were doing was against the rules, the eight Dragons began showing off in front of everyone. Yang began whirling in the air, earning a chorus of cheers from the crowd. Ruby dived on the crowd as Weiss used her Semblance to release a tail of pulverized ice behind them, giving the impression of Ruby being a comet, and the crowd cheered even more. Ren stood up on Nora's back and showed off his dancing skills by improvising a breakdance on the Dragon's back. He succeeded only thanks to the years of experience he had, and Nora's helpfully steady flight, and they earned an  _ooh_ that was only slightly less impressed than the one Weiss earned. But Jaune and Pyrrha beat them all. As Jaune executed a complete vertical roundabout while spinning on himself -thanks to his extraordinaire dancing skills-,  Pyrrha simply jumped off his back with a backflip and began to free-fall from a hundred yards in the air, causing everyone to gasp. As soon as he reached the apex of his flight, Jaune bolted down at diving speed and, thanks to Pyrrha's Polarity, managed to let her fall on his back without anything more serious than a bruise that was quickly taken care of by her Aura. As they realized that Pyrrha's action had all been a show, the crowd erupted in cries, cheering the first-years' skill. And then everyone went silent.

Professor Goodwitch was standing on Beacon's doorway, fuming.

" You ",  she said, her tone icy and dangerous.  " Are in a Hell a lot of trouble ".


	10. Revenge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long, but the writing contest I took part in has finally ended.  
> I know I said I would've focused on Dragon Blood now, but I can't control inspiration: right now I'm writing another fic yet. I don't know if I'll publish it, but it's good to just write ideas.  
> I'm this kind of crazy.

"After all, it could've gone worse".

"How it is that listening to Port's stories for _six hours_ on a Sunday morning isn't the worst?".

" Well, at least we're still in Beacon ".

" How optimistic ".

"... She's not wrong, Weiss ".

" Yes, but that pun on  _riding_ our partners... she really shouldn't have said that ".

" Hey, it was funny! ".

" No, Yang ",  everyone replied.  " It wasn't ".

The eight of them were just at the start of Goodwitch's detention. Professor Port was bragging on with his story of how he once bit an Ursa Major's head off when he was younger. The portly professor was currently describing the foul taste of the Ursa's flesh before it disintegrated in his mouth. Silently, all the present students were wishing him to have choked on that Ursa's flesh.

" So, Jaune, will you tell us what happened, now? ",  asked Ruby, turning to face the taller blond. Pyrrha turned too, her expression severe.

"Yes, Jaune, I too would really like to know why in the world you had such a stupid idea", she pressed on.

"Hey, your idea of having Weiss  _kiss_ me was far more stupid!", he defended himself, and Ruby almost nodded. Pyrrha was unrelenting.  " Still... it worked ".

" Unlocking your Aura through fear shouldn't have been the right way ",  retorted Pyrrha.

"You know, I've been thinking about that. Fear wasn't the right way, that's right. And it actually didn't work", continued Jaune, earning a confused stare from his partner.  " I was terrified, but it wasn't working. I would've died of fear in there, but then something came up and unlocked my Aura ".

" Do you remember what was it? ",  asked Pyrrha. She wasn't hoping too hard for it, though. She had read that many Dragonbloods didn't remember what happened right after unlocking their Aura.

"Yes, I do. At a certain point the fear just disappeared. I mean, I still was alone in a dark cage, but I wasn't afraid  _that way_ . Not any more. I just... couldn't leave you guys". He managed a weak smile. Speaking the human language was still new to him.  " I mean, it would've been cowardly to leave you all with the guilt to weight you down. I... you were too important to just do that to you. You needed me, not as a fighter but as a  _friend_ , and I couldn't let my Life get wasted just because I wasn't good at fighting ".

" I... I think I cared too much about you to let you live with the sorrow for my death. You needed me to live and I  _had_ to survive. Yeah, that's how it went ",  he finished, his eyes distant. Port's blah-blah-blah was still functioning as background noise for the conversation.  " I think it was the care, the affection, I had for you that unlocked  my Aura . I never felt like someone  _needed_ me until yesterday. I guess my Aura just... reacted to that ".

The seven other students sat in a stunned silence for a little while, before Ruby jabbed Pyrrha on the shoulder with a grin.  " You were right! The mineral correlation works! Care, affection... love! It worked! ".

" Students, are you paying attention? ",  asked Professor Port.

"We were just deciding if asking you to tell us one of your stories about a nest of King Tajitsus or about a swarm of Nevermore", innocently replied Yang, and the Professor was distracted immediately.

"Of course. Let me tell you about that time in Vacuo where blah blah blah". They zoned him out as soon as he began.

"Well", said Yang, playfully punching Jaune on the arm.  " Next time we'll just have Pumpkin Pyrrha here kiss you instead of Weiss. You two seemed to be having fun yesterday ".

Both of them blushed and punched Yang in the stomach, making her let out a huff as the air was robbed from her lungs. Scowling at them, she returned to her Scroll, chatting with her friends.

" Jaune, you shouldn't have done that ",  Pyrrha scolded him.  " You could have  _died_ ".

" I would've died during training, hadn't I done something ",  he replied flatly.  " You guys go easy on me, but you're the only ones ".

" Guys ",  said Nora, an expression of pure  _awe_ on her face.  " Guys, now we can break  Cardin's legs... ".

"... a nd neck ",  added Yang, and then winked.  "... _a_ _nd_ groin ".

Everyone winced.  _That_ was a painful place to be hit for everyone, males and females alike.

" Let's not plan to earn another detention before even finishing the current one ",  interjected Ren, calmly.  " I have a better idea. Jaune, why don't we all give you extra training lesson for the next few days? So, next time you go up against Cardin... ".

" He'll break his legs? ",  proposed Nora, hopeful.

"...you'll show him not to blackmail your friends".

" You  _know?_ ",  asked Pyrrha.  " How? ".

" I heard you in the library ",  replied Jaune.  " We were watching over you. Okay, we were kinda stalking you, but we did it because we were worried. Especially after you lost to Cardin ".

" And in just a day you noticed I was down, stalked me, overheard Cardin's blackmail, organized that madness and unlocked your Aura? ".  He nodded. She took a deep breath and then punched him, hard, in the stomach. He grimaced and doubled in pain.  " Now we're even ",  she said evenly.

"Jeez, Pyr, you're violent", he moaned as he straightened just in time to fool Port.  " During the extra training try to control your temper ".

" Sorry ",  she said, now feeling guilty for the force of the hit. He shot her a puzzled glance and, upon realizing she had really just apologized, he broke in a snicker.  " What- ".

She was cut off as Jaune hugged her, laughing, and whispered in her ear. " _Now_ , we're even. That's _my_ way to fix my debts with friends and family ".

She smiled and hugged him back, parting before Port could notice. "I think I like your way better", she chuckled in her fist, disguising it as a small fit of coughing. "It's nice. I really like hugs".

W ith a sly smirk and a dirty look, Yang elbowed Jaune in the ribs, getting it back immediately. Partially following her counsel, Jaune scooted his chair closer to Pyrrha's and snaked an arm around her waist, careful not to be noticed by Port.  " Is this okay? ".

S he hummed her approval, although she didn't hug him back. That would've been a bit too obvious even for Port in mid rant to miss.

#####

" Cardin Winchester, of Team CRDL, and Jaune Arc, of Team JNPR, please walk on the stage ".

The two Half Dragons took position on the platform and fell back in their guard stance. At Goodwitch's signal, the fight began, and Cardin bolted forwards, swinging his mace horizontally to catch his midsection and, hopefully, end the fight at the first hit. He was utterly shocked when Jaune, using his dancing skills and the newfound way to implement them in his fighting style, jumped over his attack and cartwheel-kicked him in the face, sending him staggering back a few steps. Before the larger Dragonblood could regain his footing, Jaune charged and shield-bashed him square in the face, taking ulterior advantage of Cardin's surprise to sweep him off his feet.

However, by then the bully had regained his bearings, and he rolled away to avoid the likely incoming attack from Crocea Mors.  Jumping back on his feet, he decided to go back to the offensive. With a single step forwards, he swung Skullbreaker at Jaune, determined to end the fight and, possibly, teach that weakling a lesson. For the second time, the blond dodged the mace, this time by ducking under it, and then shot back upright, slashing upwards with his sword and hitting Cardin's arm. Yet, he wasn't finished. With a roundhouse kick, he made a half-spin, and found himself in the perfect position for another kick. Drawing back his front leg, he then kicked out at the bully's face, for the second time during the fight making him stagger and lose his balance. After sheathing Crocea Mors back in his shield, collapsing it and putting it away, he darted toward Cardin, trying an action he had seen only done by his sisters or Yang.

Just as Cardin swung Skullbreaker to hit him, he jumped over the mace, using a wingflap to gain a bit more height. Somersaulting over Cardin, he reached out and grabbed the sides of his head. Then, using his strength, his wings, his speed and especially his Aura, he finished the movement, lifting Cardin and then bringing him down again to crash on the floor.  The effect was that Cardin dropped into red Aura level, and Jaune felt an indescribable satisfaction at the sound of the bully breaking through the pavement. With a huge grin, he turned and walked back to his team.

"You were a bit sloppy, your attacks still needs better aiming and strength", said Pyrrha, but she was smiling.  " But overall you did great ".

" I'm  _feeling_ great ",  he nodded with a grin.  " It was very satisfying ".

" I bet it was ",  snickered Yang from behind him.  " Although it was also too easy. I bet Cardin spends his time messing around and being a jerk. He's not that much of a fight ".

" Well, maybe one day I'll be able to land a hit on you ",  laughed Jaune, sitting beside Pyrrha and one-sidedly hugging her.  " Or on Pyrrha ".

" You already can land a hit on Pyrrha ",  snickered Yang.  " It's enough for you to offer her a hug and she's defenceless ".

" I would never trick her that way ",  he protested, although he was blushing.  " That sounds like something  _you_ would do! ".

" Probably ",  she admitted without missing a beat.  " But neither of you denied the fact that it would work ".

Even then, they didn't deny it. Also because they knew it was true.

#####

Team JNPR was stopped in the corridor by no less than Cardin "soon to be pancake" Winchester (that was Nora's nickname for him) and his team. Actually, Nora had a nickname for every member of Team CRDL, but nobody had listened to her long enough to hear the other nicknames. And it was a pity, because Nora was great at silly-yet-menacing nicknames.

"Hey, Jauney boy", the bully greeted him with an unpleasant smile on his face. "Nice fight, back there. Took me by surprise, I have to say. Didn't expect a weakling like you to do that".

"Well, I didn't expect _you_ to come and praise me", replied Jaune, wary. "So I guess we can both part ways and head to our dorms?".

"No, we can't yet", spat Cardin, his smile turning to a grimace. "That _hurt_ , Jauney boy. It's only fair for me to pay you back".

"Cardin, are you thinking about suicide?", snickered Jaune. "Because let me tell you: going against Team JNPR is suicide, for your team".

"But that's the point", laughed Cardin. "I'm _not_ going against Team JNPR. I'm going against you. And if your teammates do something, I'll make a call... I'm sure Nikos understands that".

"Oh, Cardin, I thought you realized it after the beating Jaune gave you in class!", cheerfully shot back Nora. "Do you want to fight? Perfect! Jaune's Aura is active, now, so if you want to can both turn into Dragons and fight like that, but beware because you'll have to fight his Knight, too, and your teammates will have to fight Ren and me, of course!".

"I... You... Your Aura?", stammered Cardin, now confused. "But... but you...?".

"Ops", grinned Pyrrha, feigning innocence. "I guess we _did_ find a way, eventually".

"I... You... He... B-But his A-Aura...?", the bully continued, shocked. "It... It was... locked... how...?".

"We know about your little blackmailing, Cardin, although I personally don't think you'd ever do something like that. You're a jerk, but not a murderer", replied Jaune, cocking an eyebrow. "Still, even though it was likely you'd never have really reported one of your kind to the Council, the action wasn't nice".

Cardin exchanged a glance with the other members of Team CRDL. Jaune was right, he would never have reported him to the Council, but the fact that he knew and was just standing there, grinning alongside his team, was unnerving. Cardin could almost _feel_ the mischief hanging in the air. Somehow, it seemed to him like this was a complex and dangerous trap.

"You see, Cardin, there is something we need to tell you", continued Jaune, this time serious. His teammates sobered up as well. "Get lost".

And with that, they all walked past CRDL and headed off to their dorms.


End file.
